Kenny Atkinson, who is currently an assistant coach with the Warriors, recently traveled to Toronto for an in-person interview for the Raptors‘ head coaching job, reports Marc Stein at Substack.
A longtime NBA assistant who has spent time with the Knicks, Hawks and Clippers, Atkinson was the head coach of the Nets from 2016-20, accruing a 118-190 record (.383) over parts of four seasons. He has been with the Warriors for the past two seasons.
The Nets improved their win total in each of Atkinson’s first three seasons, making the playoffs in ’18/19. Known as a player development guru, the 55-year-old had a verbal agreement to become Charlotte’s head coach last offseason, but backed out of the arrangement before it was finalized, citing family considerations as a factor in his decision.
Atkinson was a finalist for Milwaukee’s coaching vacancy, which ultimately went to Adrian Griffin, and also interviewed or was expected to interview this spring for the previous openings in Houston and Phoenix.
The Raptors have been very secretive about their search for a new lead coach this offseason after dismissing Nick Nurse. However, they are reportedly in the final stages of interviews and are expected to hire a new coach relatively soon.
According to Stein, since Atkinson interviewed at this juncture, he’s believed to join a group of finalists that includes Virtus Bologna head coach Sergio Scariolo, Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez, and Grizzlies assistant Darko Rajakovic. Sources tell Stein that Scariolo’s second interview was set for “as early as Monday,” though it isn’t clear if he’ll be traveling to Toronto, since his Italian team is about to begin its championship series Friday.
As Stein writes, there’s no real consensus about which coach the Raptors might favor. Some view Scariolo as the frontrunner due to his ties to the organization, having served as an assistant under Nurse for three seasons, but Stein hears Fernandez is also a “name to watch.”
Its a shame what happened to Atkinson for my Nets. Kyrie doesn’t like to be told what to do by anyone, essentially a child. He got Atkinson fired because Atkinson gets in these guys faces and just gives it to them straight. Kyrie doesn’t want anyone to be the boss of him, especially a white guy. Nash was only hired to be Kyrie’s yes man. Sean Mark’s worst move was caving to those divas. When you give an inch they take a foot. Common mentality. No other sports has the players run the team. The NBA has become essentially unwatchable due to the antics of some of these guys
I can’t blame Kyrie. I don’t being told what to do by people who are a essentially a child either.
I don’t know about the “white guy” stuff, but Atkinson deserves another shot. You could make the argument that there aren’t a lot of great defensive teams, and the power forward position is kind of extinct- but the current NBA is very watchable.
it wasnt just Kyrie, KD was in on it too
No one is speaking about the reality that we lost both our head coach AND lead assistant coach. I wonder if those interviews are occurring concurrently or one-in-the-same. It will be interesting to see if any of these key candidates are kept as lead assistant coach.
Atkinson is a good coach. He helped that young Nets team develop. He’s overdue for a head coaching job.
Kenny Atkinson was running a good & up coming Nets team until its braintrust blew that roster up. Hope he gets some HC job, just not in the same Conference as our Celtics.
Toronto would be a great fit for him. After what took place in Brooklyn, I’m glad to see he may get another shot at HC.