The Cavaliers plan to keep coach Kenny Atkinson for a third season, according to reports.
The Athletic first reported on Tuesday, May 26, no major changes are expected in Cleveland’s front office or on its coaching staff after the Cavs were swept by the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals. ESPN also reported Atkinson’s job is safe.
“Listen, I have confidence, confidence in myself, first of all, confidence in the group,” Atkinson said after the Cavs were eliminated by the Knicks with a 130-93 loss in Game 4 on Monday, May 25. “The roster talk, that’s for down the line. Our front office has done a phenomenal job giving us a great roster. You know, 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. So just keep trusting, trusting our process, trust our collaboration.”
The Cavs hired Atkinson as J.B. Bickerstaff’s replacement after the 2023-24 season. Bickerstaff had coached the Cavs for four-plus seasons, but he couldn’t guide them past the second round of the playoffs.
Atkinson helped the Cavs clear the Round 2 hurdle this year. The fourth-seeded Cavs defeated the fifth-seeded Toronto Raptors 4-3 in the first round and Bickerstaff’s top-seeded Detroit Pistons 4-3 in the second round. The grind of two seven-game series caught up to the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals, when they were dominated by the Knicks in a 4-0 series loss. The Cavs had only themselves to blame for running out of gas because they missed opportunities to end their first two series sooner.
Kenny Atkinson’s record as Cavs coach
Atkinson is 116-48 in the regular season and 13-14 in the playoffs as Cleveland’s head coach.
Atkinson was voted the 2024-25 NBA Coach of the Year for leading the Cavs to a regular-season record of 64-18 and the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 playoff seed during his first season on the job. The Cavs then swept the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs before losing 4-1 to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, otherwise known as Round 2.
Despite using 41 starting lineups because of a season-long rash of injuries in 2025-26, Atkinson piloted the Cavs to a regular-season record of 52-30 during his second season in charge. In the 2026 playoffs, the Cavs advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018 and the first time without LeBron James since 1992.
However, the Cavs’ matchup with the Knicks in the conference finals ended in embarrassment.
The Cavs led Game 1 at Madison Square Garden by 22 points in the fourth quarter, but they blew it and lost in overtime. Atkinson didn’t call a timeout during an 18-1 run by the Knicks, who were carried by Jalen Brunson repeatedly torching fellow point guard James Harden’s defense. The Cavs never recovered. In the Game 3, the first showdown in Cleveland during the conference finals, the Cavs never led. The season ended for Cleveland when it suffered the second-largest margin of defeat in franchise playoff history in Game 4.
Donovan Mitchell and James Harden defend Kenny Atkinson as Cavaliers playoff run ends
The Cavs entered their second postseason of the Atkinson era with NBA Finals expectations, especially after they traded point guard Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers for future Hall of Famer Harden in February.
The blockbuster deal altered the Cavs’ timeline with their core group of players. Harden is a top-75 player in NBA history, but he is also 36 years old. Garland is 26.
Another factor affecting Cleveland’s sense of urgency is seven-time All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell’s contract situation because he can opt out after the 2026-27 season. The Cavs concluded Harden’s durability and playoff experience would make him a better backcourt running mate for Mitchell than Garland and thereby enhance Cleveland’s ability to sign Mitchell to another long-term extension.
After the Cavs were swept, Mitchell and Harden expressed a desire to return to Cleveland. Still, the Cavs organization must decide whether the Mitchell-Harden tandem is the right answer. After all, the Cavs were crushed by the Knicks in the conference finals, and Cleveland posted an 8-10 record in the 2026 playoffs.
Atkinson, though, is not expected to take the fall. Mitchell and Harden publicly defended his coaching after the Cavs were knocked out by the Knicks.
“We’ve done something that we haven’t done since 2018. … There’s going to be criticism everywhere on Kenny, right? But why?” Mitchell said. “We got here. … We didn’t just go out there and coach ourselves. People are going to be people. People probably criticize me just as much, and then James [Harden], but I love Kenny. We love Kenny. We ride with Kenny, and, ultimately, that’s all that matters, right?”
Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kenny Atkinson reportedly to remain Cavs coach. Big roster decisions remain
Reporting by Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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