During Wednesday’s debate, each candidate had to pick a side on the thumbs up/thumbs down binary about the New York Knicks’ decision to fire Thibodeau following their Eastern Conference finals defeat to the Indiana Pacers. Seven candidates did not agree with the Knicks’ move, while Michael Blake had the backs of James Dolan and Leon Rose.

Carlisle was so surprised that he initially thought the news was one of "those fake AI things." Carlisle later elaborated on what made the firing of Thibodeau so unexpected to him

One of the potential reasons the New York Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau this week was the heavy minutes he played star point guard Jalen Brunson, one of the familiar critiques of Thibodeau's coaching style throughout his career.