According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Charlotte Hornets will have to reopen their search for head coach after Kenny Atkinson has changed his mind and will no longer take the job. Instead, Atkinson will remain with the Golden State Warriors as the top assistant coach under Steve Kerr.
Atkinson, who has gone through several interviews with the Hornets over the past few weeks, accepted a four-year contract with the team to become his new head coach on June 18. The Hornets, who fired James Borrego after four seasons in large part because of his inability to hold the team accountable on defense, hoped Atkinson could improve the team on this side of the ball.
At this time, it is unclear why Atkinson decided to reverse course and stay with the Warriors. For Wojnarowski, it happened after “more conversations,” but that’s pretty vague. Atkinson and the Warriors, of course, won the title earlier this week after defeating the Boston Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals. bay, where he can compete for titles, train some of the best players of this generation and work for a top tier organization.
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In any case, the Hornets will now have to return to the drawing board, which is not ideal with the 2022 NBA Draft in a few days, and free agency starting soon after. Before deciding on Atkinson, the Hornets had also brought in Mike D’Antoni and Terry Stotts, who were considered finalists for the job. They could go back and choose between one of these two, but after firing Borrego for defensive problems, it would be strange to hire another coach with an offensive mentality like D’Antoni or Stotts.
The Hornets finished 43-39 last season, surpassing .500 for the first time since the 2015-16 season. That record was only good enough for a 10th place in the Eastern Conference, however, and the Hornets were destroyed by the Atlanta Hawks in the game tournament. A second straight play-in defeat also played a major role in Borrego’s departure.
With people like LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges (assuming he signs again) and Terry Rozier, there is a lot of young talent on this Hornets team, which should make this an attractive job. If the Hornets want to expand their search beyond D’Antoni and Stotts, they will have no shortage of candidates.