James Borrego was not named head coach of the Lakers, and he will not be named head coach of the Cavaliers either. ESPN and The Athletic announce in unison that it is Kenny Atkinson who gets the job!
At 57, the man who joined the staff of the French team, alongside Vincent Collet, therefore finds a main position, four years after leaving that of the Nets following the arrivals of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. In 2022, however, he agreed to take charge of the Hornets, before reversing course immediately…
After a playing career which took him through several French clubs (Montpellier, Epinal, Mulhouse, Nantes, Evreux, etc.), Kenny Atkinson became an assistant, first at Paris Basket Racing then in the NBA, with Mike D' Antoni to the Knicks (2008-12), then Mike Budenholzer to the Hawks (2012-16).
Take a step forward
He then took charge of the Nets, helping the young team progress until reaching the playoffs in 2019. But the arrival of the Irving/Durant tandem immediately changed the trajectory of the club.
Relaunched as an assistant to the Clippers then to the Warriors, he will find players in Cleveland that he already had under his command in Brooklyn (Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert) as well as young people (Evan Mobley) to improve. Hoping for the extension of Donovan Mitchell, while the future of Darius Garland is more vague.
The leaders of Ohio are in any case counting on him to take the team to a new level, which has just completed two consecutive seasons in the Top 4 of the Eastern Conference under JB Bickerstaff, but which had not yet reached the not in the playoffs, with an exit in the first round in 2023, and certainly in the conference semi-finals in 2024, but after being very scared again in the first round against the Magic…
James Borrego could now bounce back in Detroit, the only head coach position still vacant in the league.
