Isiah Thomas said yesterday that if James Dolan reaches out to him about returning to the Knicks, he would at least consider it.
In an interview on ESPN, Thomas initially said he had zero interest in running the Knicks again. But when pressed about what he would say if Dolan called him, Thomas — not surprisingly — said he could never rule anything out.
“There’s an old saying in this media business I’m learning — never speculate on speculation. That hasn’t happened,” Thomas said. “And you never say never about anything, and all my doors are open and you never burn bridges. We were taught that at a very young age, too.”
The organization says it isn’t considering bringing back Thomas, who claimed he had no involvement in Donnie Walsh’s departure as team president.
“It was a decision that Donnie came to on his own,” said Thomas, who called Walsh “a good friend of mine and a mentor.”
On his conference call, Walsh said, “I don’t think Isiah Thomas had anything to do with basically anything I’m doing right now. He has nothing to do with that.”
Walsh maintained he did not believe Thomas had influence over Knicks owner James Dolan, at least in terms of Dolan’s relationship with Walsh. But Walsh admitted “the attention [Thomas] drew did annoy me at certain points.”
Thomas said he enjoys his current job, coaching at Florida International University.
“I have no interest in being the president of the New York Knicks,” he said. “I’m happy with FIU. I like the things I’m doing on the college scene. I like the players we have are coming in. And I also like working with the youth and working with the kids at this point in time.”
Thomas also told ESPN “the toll that the [Knicks] job took on me, my wife and my kids, I don’t want to go through that again.
“We did some good things,” he said. “Of course, like every other GM in the league, you’ve made a mistake or two. So I wasn’t free from error, but I don’t think anyone who has these jobs, there’s 30 of them, I don’t think you can find any of them that can say they’re free from error, and neither can I.
“What the future holds, we’ll see . . . you never close any doors. I’ve been around in sports and also in business a long time. And I’ve lived a relatively good life.
“Just like your door isn’t closed, neither is mine.”