Kenny Atkinson wins NBA Coach of the Year award

2025-05-06T09:12:13+00:00 2025-05-06T09:21:04+00:00.

Giannis Askounis

06/May/25 09:12

Eurohoops.net
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From last summer’s Olympic Games with France to a brilliant run with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2024-25 NBA Regular Season

By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net

Kenny Atkinson was named NBA Coach of the Year on Monday.

The 57-year-old head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers is the recipient of the Red Auerbach Trophy.

Leading into the individual nod, he was placed in the list of finalists, alongside J.B. Bickerstaff of the Detroit Pistons and Ime Udoka of the Houston Rockets.

Dominating a global media panel of 100 voters, Atkinson earned 59 first-place, 33 second-place, and seven third-place selections for a total of 401 points.

Second-placed Bickerstaff had 305 points, and Udoka followed with 113 points. Mark Daigneault of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Tyronn Lue of the Los Angeles Clippers, and J.J. Redick of the Los Angeles Lakers also got votes.

After playing professionally in Europe for several years and starting his coaching career as an assistant with Paris Basket Racing in 2004, Atkinson was an assistant coach for the senior national team of France under Vincent Collet in the Olympic Games 2024, winning a silver medal in Paris.

In the 2024-25 NBA Regular Season, his efforts led the Cavs to a 64-18 record and first place in the final standings of the Eastern Conference, in his first year with the franchise based in Ohio. In the 2025 Playoffs presented by Google, his side swept the Miami Heat in the opening round but lost Game 1 of a best-of-seven series versus the Indiana Pacers in the Conference Semifinals.

The native of New York went from an assistant with the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks to serving as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets between 2016 and 2020, in addition to becoming an NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors during his spell as an assistant under Steve Kerr from 2021 to 2024.

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