![\"OG](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2280764579.jpg\")
OG Anunoby (l.) sits with Knicks assistant Chris Jent before Game 4 of the NBA Finals on June 10, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\nThe Knicks will at times be without an integral member of the coaching staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Assistant coach Chris Jent will be away from the team for an undisclosed period of time for personal reasons, The Post has learned. He is expected to miss games in the near future but the situation is fluid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jent \u2014 the associate head coach who is in charge of the offense \u2014 was not on the bench for the second and third games of the season, missing losses to the Celtics in Boston and Magic at Madison Square Garden. He will not be with the team during Tuesday night\u2019s game against the Pistons at MSG either, according to league sources.<\/p>\n
OG Anunoby (l.) sits with Knicks assistant Chris Jent before Game 4 of the NBA Finals on June 10, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Assistant T.J. Saint filled his role on the front of the bench during those two games and was seen with a clipboard leading huddles during timeouts. Saint was the Knicks\u2019 Summer League coach this year and will continue to be on the front of the bench for games that Jent misses, according to league sources.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jent, 56, was present for the Knicks\u2019 season-opening loss<\/a> to the 76ers at MSG and was part of the team\u2019s championship ceremony<\/a> before the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n He is one of the most respected assistants across the league and was instrumental in the change to the Knicks\u2019 offensive scheme after falling behind to a 2-1 series deficit to the Hawks in the first round of the playoffs last year. He helped implement a system that featured Karl-Anthony Towns as a \u201chub\u201d at the elbows, which created better shots for Jalen Brunson, brought out the best in OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges and helped fuel the team\u2019s championship run.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is Jent\u2019s second season as an assistant with the Knicks after head coach Mike Brown brought him in as part of his staff last year. Jent interviewed for the Blazers\u2019 head coach opening this past offseason, though Brown thought he should have been an even bigger head coaching candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been around for a long time,\u201d Brown said after the Knicks won the championship. \u201cSomebody needs to give him an interview because he\u2019ll help your team win at the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n Jent had a brief 18-game stint as the Magic\u2019s interim head coach to end the 2004-05 season. Otherwise, he\u2019s been an NBA assistant coach for 18 seasons for eight different teams \u2013 the 76ers, Magic, Cavaliers, Kings, Hawks, Lakers, Hornets and Knicks.<\/p>\n A former Ohio State star as a player, Jent had a brief NBA playing career \u2014 including playing three games with the Knicks during the 1996-97 season. He was also part of the Rockets\u2019 championship team in 1993-94. He spent most of his playing career overseas.\u00a0<\/p>\n He previously worked on Brown\u2019s staff with the Cavs, where he garnered praise from LeBron James as his personal shooting coach. Jent and LeBron later reunited with the Lakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jent has a wealth of knowledge that is highly valued throughout the Knicks organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n They\u2019ll at times have to find a way to replace that.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Knicks will at times be without an integral member of the coaching staff.\u00a0 Assistant coach Chris Jent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":943165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,5607,590,1666,85],"class_list":["post-943164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-exclusive","tag-nba","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/943165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Knicks](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/user-expressly-acknowledges-agrees-downloading-145891806.jpg\")
Knicks head coach Mike Brown (r.) looks on with assistants Chris Jent (c.) and Rick Brunson (l.) during the Ring Ceremony prior to the game against the 76ers at MSG on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n