It has been another frustrating season for the New York Knicks. Not only have they missed out on the playoffs for the fifth straight year, but their star player Kristaps Porzingis suffered a torn ACL and will be sidelined for up to 10 months.

This summer will once again be critical for the franchise if they are to put together a team worthy of competing in the east.

They will be in the lottery once again and will have another chance to draft a promising young talent to add to their roster.

New York will also aim to be big players in the free agency market and look to lure a marquee name to the Big Apple.

Another huge decision they will have to make will concern the head coaching position.

With a lack of talent on the roster and the injury to Porzingis, things haven't been easy for Jeff Hornacek.

But he has just one year remaining on his deal after this campaign and after another losing season, his job looks to be under threat in the summer.

According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, Hornacek is unlikely to make it to the end of his contract.

Stein states that in addition to the losing, the Knicks are keen to move on from the Phil Jackson era, as he was the one who hired Hornacek.

In his newsletter, he also outlines two candidates for the job if it does become available.

"The former Knicks guard Mark Jackson keeps coming up as a hot name to succeed Hornacek, amid a growing belief the Knicks' new front-office chief - Scott Perry - will want to install his own hand-picked choice heading into next season," Stein said.

"Another name to file away here: The former Cleveland coach David Blatt has a longstanding relationship with the Knicks' president Steve Mills dating to their days as Princeton teammates.

"You wonder if that'll finally earn Blatt his first meaningful look from an N.B.A. franchise since the Cavaliers fired him in January 2016 while sporting a record of 30-11."

Hornacek really isn't to blame for the problems the franchise has had in recent years but after firing the Zen Master before the start of the campaign, it's no surprise that they'd want to bring in a new voice in the locker room and freshen things up.

This would give Perry - who was installed as the general manager in the offseason - a chance to bring in his own man and put his stamp on the team by making big decisions to move the team forward.

Whoever does replace Hornacek will have a huge job on his hands to turn around the fortunes of an organisation that has been in mediocrity for far too long.

But they are still one of the biggest teams in the NBA and in the league's biggest market, so the challenge of bringing success back to NY should be appealing to anybody.

Listen HERE to the first episode of the new GiveMeSport NBA podcast, featuring former Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin.

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