Former MSG Sports president Steve Mills to leave company in June, work with Magic Johnson

Steve Mills to leave MSG in June

NEW YORK — Steve Mills, who hired Isiah Thomas and later was demoted after Thomas’ turbulent tenure at MSG, is leaving the company in June.

Mills will work for Magic Johnson Enterprises, who recommended Thomas to Mills when the Knicks were looking for a team president in 2003.

Thomas later fired coach Larry Brown and took over the team himself, coaching for two losing seasons that included an embarrassing sexual harassment trial before Donnie Walsh replaced him as president and fired him as coach.

Mills was reassigned within MSG Sports teams after Walsh arrived.

Both Thomas and former MSG executive Anucha Browne Sanders, who was awarded $11.5 million after suing Thomas and the Garden, reported to Mills.