Kenny Atkinson will reportedly remain the Cavaliers' head coach
The Cleveland Cavaliers are expected to retain head coach Kenny Atkinson despite suffering a 4-0 sweep to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals, per The Athletic's Joe Vardon and ESPN’s Shams Charania.
There were rumors circulating on Tuesday that Cleveland could be looking to fire Atkinson and replace him with former Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd.
Instead, the head coach will be back with the franchise for a third season. Not only is Atkinson expected to be retained, but there are no major moves expected in the front office or coaching staff.
In his second season, Atkinson led the Cavaliers to the second round of the playoffs last year, which helped to earn him Coach of the Year honors. This season, Cleveland improved, reaching the Eastern Conference finals.
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Despite being swept, Charania reported that Atkinson has the full support of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. Rather than focusing on a coaching search, Cleveland is now expected to focus more on roster improvement.
Atkinson went infamously viral twice during the Eastern Conference finals. When the team was down 3-0, he was asked in a media scrum how he remains positive facing the deficit. The head coach responded that they are playing better analytically than the Knicks, so there were positives to draw from that.
The question wasn’t included in the viral video; instead, it looked like Atkinson was ranting that analytics showed the Cavaliers had won two of three at that point, even though, in reality, the Knicks were up 3-0.
After they were swept, the head coach went viral again. This time it was for saying that part of why the Cavs lost was because they didn’t get through their earlier playoff series fast enough, implying that they played so poorly because they “had the deck stacked against them” and they were tired.
The Knicks advanced to the NBA Finals and await the winner of the Western Conference finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs.
Cleveland has an important offseason ahead, where it will try to improve the roster around Mitchell and Harden. One name already tied to the franchise is LeBron James, who is a free agent.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported earlier Tuesday that James would not take a hometown discount to return to Cleveland. The veteran’s Hall of Fame career is winding down, and he could choose to return home one more time.
