Kenny Atkinson will remain in his role as the Cavaliers‘ head coach entering the 2026/27 season, reports Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
After the Cavs were outscored by 77 points over the course of a four-game sweep at the hands of the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals, there had been speculation that the team might consider a head coaching change. But that won’t be the case, according to Vardon, who hears from sources that no major changes involving either the coaching staff or the front office are expected in Cleveland this offseason.
Atkinson, hired in 2024 to replace J.B. Bickerstaff, has led the Cavs to an outstanding 116-48 (.707) regular season record over the past two seasons and earned Coach of the Year honors for the 2024/25 season.
However, the team hasn’t had the sort of playoff success it hoped for during that time. Cleveland was eliminated in the second round as the East’s No. 1 seed last spring and narrowly eked by the Raptors and Pistons with Game 7 victories this spring before being dominated by New York.
Atkinson faced some criticism during the Knicks series for his game management during a fourth-quarter collapse in Game 1, when he declined to use his timeouts or change his defensive game plan as Jalen Brunson repeatedly beat James Harden on defense and the Knicks erased a 22-point deficit. He also raised eyebrows between Games 3 and 4 by claiming that his team had “analytically” earned two of three expected wins to that point in the series.
Still, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has maintained his support of Atkinson, who has three years left on his contract, Vardon reported earlier today. ESPN’s Shams Charania and Jamal Collier convey a similar sentiment, indicating that Atkinson remains highly regarded by key officials within the organization.
Star guards Donovan Mitchell and Harden also voiced their support for Atkinson in the wake of Monday’s Game 4 loss. All indications are that the veteran coach has strong relationships with both players.
Gilbert put out a statement on Monday night praising the Cavs for taking a step forward this season but adding that they’re “nowhere near where we need to be.” Those remarks suggest that major changes could be coming this offseason — since those changes apparently won’t impact the front office and coaching staff, it’s safe to assume this roster won’t look the same in October as it did in the conference finals.
“I have confidence — confidence in myself, first of all, confidence in the group,” Atkinson said on Monday when he was asked about his job security. “The roster talk, that’s for down the line. Our front office has done a phenomenal job giving us a great roster. Obviously, there’ll be decisions to be made like every summer, but I think we’re doing pretty well with those decisions since I’ve been here. Just keep trusting. Trusting our process. Trust our collaboration.”
I view Conference Final as a success
Michell is not great, Harden is not good
At full strength, Nuggets and Wolves are a bit better than Knicks
Of course you do.
Ww will see how bad Cleveland is when the Knicks meet the west. If Cleveland is stupid enough ti throw money at 37 year old statue James Harden. They deserve their fate. Garland will show them next year their foolishness.
The analytics said he would stay.
Lmaoooooo
I will always remember Kenny Atkinson for being a pathetic… absolutely pathetic coach…
Back in 2019 when he was the coach of the Nets I sat about 5 rows back of the Nets bench at a Heat / Nets game… I could literally hear the players and coaches during the game… during timeouts Atkinson wouldn’t even talk to his players.. he would walk out to mid court and talk with his coaches.. never even looking at a player.. the players on the bench (ironically Jarrett Allen was one of them that stood out to me) were openly mocking him for not having the balls to even look at them as the Heat were blowing them out. The best I could describe the vibe of the Nets was “who gives a chit” or “this is just pathetic” ….. maybe it was just a bad night… but the impression that Atkinson is the worst organized sports coach I’ve ever personally witnessed will stay with me forever lol
🤔
At the end of last season y’all were praising Atkinson as a genius and a deserving Coach of the Year winner. Now all of a sudden he’s supposedly awful, despite leading the Cavs farther than they’ve gone since LeBron left.
The players support Atkinson, and I get that he got them to the conference finals, but that team absolutely laid down in the end of game 3 and all of game 4. That should not be tolerated. The Knicks were gonna beat them either way, because they’re just better, but the Cavs are not mentally tough; Spida Mitchell was the only one who tried to play with some pride in game 4 but the rest of those guys mailed it in. You can’t support a coach who can’t get his guys to play with some pride on their home floor in a win-or-go-home game.