Ex-New York Knicks Head Coach Derek Fisher Denies Reports of Possible Playing Comeback, but He Would Talk to Teams
Derek Fisher isn’t done with the NBA. After one and a half seasons as the New York Knicks head coach, Fisher was fired back in February. Since then, he’s been taking some time off, messing around with teammates’ girlfriends, all that good stuff.
Now, Fisher, who turns 42 on August 9, may be plotting a comeback as a player.
“Working on being a better me,” captioned Fisher on a Facebook video of himself doing on-court basketball drills. “Loving every minute of this journey. #imnotdoneyet”
Usually, you don’t hashtag “I’m not done yet” for no particular reason; however, Fisher denies that he is actively seeking to make an NBA comeback.
“On-court workouts have been part of my regimen since I played my last game,” tweeted Fisher. “If an NBA team expresses interest, I’m open to dialogue, but at the moment I have no steadfast plan to play again.”
So it’s not necessarily on his to-do list, but Fisher is available.
Fish had an incredibly successful playing career. After being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers back in 1996, Fisher won three championships with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant before short stints with the Golden State Warriors and Utah Jazz. Fisher then returned to the Lakers for another five seasons, winning two more rings with Kobe. Fisher played a year with the Dallas Mavericks and then finished out his career with the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he was a part of the 2012 NBA Finals loss to LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
So, yeah, Derek has been around the block and back more than once. Unfortunately, his last few seasons with the Thunder were lackluster at best. Fisher managed only 5.2 points and 1.4 assists per game during the 2013-2014 season despite playing an average of 17 minutes in 81 games.
Still, going from player to coach and back to player would be quite the accomplishment, and I’ll cheer for him.
For teams, however, he’s more of a name than a real asset. Maybe the Lakers could get a few more pity jersey sales out of signing him.