Angry agent Joe Glass claimed the Knicks will have to fire recuperating Larry Brown if they don’t want him to coach next season because he will not accept a buyout.
As reported in yesterday’s Post, owner James Dolan is seeking to buy out Brown for $25 million of the nearly $40 million he is due on his contract’s four remaining years.
“There’s been no discussion of a buyout and there won’t be a discussion of a buyout,” Glass told The Post yesterday.
“We’re not going to accept a settlement. He’s coaching the Knicks or they’re firing him – one way or another.
There’s not going to be a $25 million buyout.
“He wants to coach this team,” Glass added.
So a firing is what it might take for the Knicks and Brown to divorce, which is inevitable now, with it all feeling like Detroit deja vu.
Glass claimed nobody had contacted them about a buyout. And for the third straight day, the Knicks declined comment.
ESPN reported Brown has told friends he thinks he will be fired.
Thomas is in Hilton Head, S.C., meeting with college scouts, and Brown is planning to show up Monday in Westchester to conduct the first predraft workouts with prospects.
Though an NBA source said there’s no timetable to resolve Brown’s future, it will be awkward for Brown to run the drills with the noose hovering above his head.
A source close to Brown told The Post the Knicks coach was “blindsided” by Peter Vecsey’s front-page story Sunday that owner Dolan was considering buying out Brown and having Isiah Thomas take over the coaching reins.
The source said Brown was returning Sunday from a Manhattan hospital with his wife, Shelly, when they heard about the story. Brown had successful bladder surgery last Friday.
Glass said Monday that Thomas told him in a phone call the newspaper reports had “no validity.” The Browns are concerned the Knicks have not formally squashed reports.
“They were the last to know that [Detroit owner] Bill Davidson wanted to fire him, too (last July),” the source said. “They don’t know what’s going on.
They think it’s 50-50.” Glass was furious the media continued to speculate that Brown is finished. In fact, Glass blamed The Post yesterday for Brown’s Detroit departure, citing its “dream job” story.
“You want to know the truth,” Glass said. “The truth is when Bill Davidson decided to fire Larry, he said one of the main reasons was he read a story in the paper by Marc Berman that the Knicks were his dream job. That was the main reason he wanted him out of there.” (That Post story included Brown saying he was rooting for Herb Williams to keep the job.) Dolan, Brown and Glass appear headed to an imminent face-to-face meeting, but league sources do not believe there is much Brown can do to save his job, even if he wants to.
“There’s no way I can determine someone’s future action,” Glass said of Dolan. “I only have to go by what they tell me. My job is to protect Larry Brown and his interests. Can I predict what course of action they’ll take? No.
But I’m very, very tired of all the conjecture.” Dolan reportedly believes buying out Brown is more economical than agreeing to the trades Brown has suggested that would add significantly to the Knicks’ payroll and luxury-tax payment.
Kenyon Martin’s $70 million contract alone would be triple Brown’s cost (including luxury tax). The Knicks dread bringing back Brown with roughly the same roster that went 23-59 this past season.
