Update: Late Friday, new Knicks president Donnie Walsh announced coach (and former president) Isiah Thomas will be relieved of his coaching duties after compiling a dismal 56-108 record as head coach. Thomas is still owed a reported $18 million after receiving a long-term contract extension from Madison Square Garden Chairman Jim Dolan just over a year ago. 

Aside from a brief honeymoon phase when he first joined the team, in 2003, New York Knicks’ fans have long doubted president and coach Isiah Thomas’ value to the club. Under his watch, attendance has declined, payroll has bloated, players and coaches have been lauded and then dismissed with dizzying speed, and, most significantly, the team’s on-court performance has been abysmal—the Knicks have not had a winning season since he took the helm and have missed the playoffs every year but one.
 
But even Thomas’ strongest detractors might be shocked to realize just how much he’s cost the team during his four-year tenure. By our rough estimate, Thomas’ stewardship of the storied Knicks has drained at least $187 million from the coffers of Madison Square Garden owner Cablevision and its C.E.O., James Dolan.

Call it the Thomas Tax.

When Thomas came on board as president of basketball operations, in December 2003, he had two clear mandates: Reduce the Knicks’ league-leading payroll—$88 million at the time—and win a championship.
 
Since that time, the Knicks have not come anywhere near winning a playoff series, let alone a championship, while still managing to spend more than almost every other team in the league on player salaries. Last year’s payroll of $110 million, tops in the National Basketball Association, netted the team one of the league’s worst records.
 
Thomas’ poor trades and personnel moves alone have caused the Knicks to get hit with $137 million in luxury taxes during the last four years (the N.B.A. calculates the threshold for the tax every season based on a complicated formula). In 2007, the team paid $45 million in luxury taxes; to put that in perspective, only four other teams incurred the luxury tax at all last season, for a total of $10.3 million, meaning that the Knicks paid four-and-a-half times more than every other team combined. Of course, it takes money and talent to win, but the Knicks have not had a single All-Star player or playoff game to show for all the extra funds spent during Thomas’ run.

And all those losses—231 and counting—hurt the bottom line too. More than in any other professional sport, N.B.A. franchises are driven by gate revenue: ticket sales, concessions, and merchandise sales. And the more successful a team is on the court, the higher the gate revenue. Sports economist David J. Berri, co-author of The Wages of Wins, estimates that each time the Knicks win a game, it results in an additional $400,000 at the gate. If Thomas’ team had generated even a modest .500 winning percentage during the last four seasons, it would have won 49 more games, meaning about $19.6 million in lost gate revenue, not to mention the lost revenue from missed playoff games.

So far that’s almost $157 million in losses directly attributable to Thomas. But wait, there’s more. Thomas signed Basketball Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown to a five-year contract worth between $50 million and $60 million in 2005, but after a dismal season marked by player revolts and one of the worst win-loss records in Knicks’ history, Brown was fired the following year. Regardless, Brown was able to force the Knicks to buy out the rest of his contract—for a cool $18.5 million. (Thomas succeeded Brown as coach, while maintaining his “president” title.)
 
And last, but certainly not least, there was the sordid sexual-harassment suit brought against M.S.G. late last year by Anucha Browne Sanders, a former Knicks’ marketing executive. Sanders claimed that Thomas repeatedly verbally abused and sexually harassed her and that James Dolan then wrongfully dismissed her when she filed a formal complaint against M.S.G. Sanders eventually won an $11.6 million judgment (later settled down to $11.5 million) against the Garden in an ugly court case.

Thomas’ total liability?
 

• $137 million in luxury taxes.
   
• $19.6 million in lost gate revenue.
   
• $18.5 million to make Coach Brown go away.
   
• $11.5 million for Thomas’ treatment of Browne Sanders.

 
All told, $186.6 million. And this doesn’t even take into account Thomas’ own multimillion-dollar salary and the declining viewership for Knicks’ games broadcast on the MSG Network. (Inexplicably, the overall value of the team may still have grown slightly in recent years, at least according to Forbes, which estimated that the franchise was still worth a league-best $608 million in 2007, perhaps due to higher overall league revenues.)

The money drain will likely come to an end soon, as Dolan recently signed former Indiana Pacers C.E.O. Donnie Walsh to a four-year deal, an arrangement that knocks Thomas out of his front-office post. But the dismal balance sheet remains.
 
And what do the fans think?
 
“Wow!” says Art Nathan, a longtime Knicks fan who, much like an outraged shareholder, organized a well-publicized protest calling for Thomas’ ouster outside M.S.G. last December. “The guy’s a loser, but I didn’t think he cost them that much.”

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