Thomas' journey from player to executive marred with controversy

Thomas took 40 stitches to his head after a hard foul from Malone in 1991, with his teammates suggesting it was a premeditated attack. One month earlier, Thomas lit up Utah for 44 points in a game, taking on John Stockton in what many considered payback for the star point guard's selection to the "Dream Team."

Malone, Stockton's longtime teammate, insisted it was a simply a hard foul.

Thomas retired in April 1994, and one month later became head of basketball operations for the expansion Toronto Raptors. His reign ended abruptly when Thomas resigned in November 1997 after a failed attempt to buy out the team's majority owner.

Two years later, Thomas purchased the nine-team Continental Basketball Association, a five-decade-old league with small-market teams. The CBA went bankrupt after Thomas left to become coach of the Indiana Pacers; Nix's friends owned the Fort Wayne, Ind., franchise.

After losing his second coaching job with the Pacers, Thomas was hired by the Knicks in December 2003. The team reached the playoffs just once during the Thomas regime, and has yet to notch a single postseason victory despite the NBA's largest payroll.

In recent weeks, the on-court woes were rivaled by his in-court problems with the lawsuit filed by ex-Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders. Thomas, in a videotaped deposition, said it was less offensive for a black male to use the term "bitch" toward a black woman than it was for a white man.

But Madison Square Garden Chairman James Dolan remains a staunch (some suggest the last) Thomas supporter, both for his work with the Knicks and in his role as defendant.

Thomas is married to his college sweetheart, Lynne, and they live near the Knicks' suburban training facility with their two children, Joshua and Lauren.