The Brooklyn Nets have reached agreement on a multi-year deal with Hawks’ assistant Kenny Atkinson to become their next head coach, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.
According to Wojnarowski, General Manager Sean Marks had long viewed Atkinson as a top priority:
Nets general manager Sean Marks met with several candidates in recent weeks, but had long targeted Atkinson for the Nets job, sources said. Negotiations took place over the past several days and culminated with an agreement this weekend.
Atkinson, 48, will finish out the playoffs with Atlanta, where he has been Mike Budenholzer’s top assistant coach for the past two years. Atkinson has been considered one of the most, if not the most, prepared NBA assistants to ascend into a head-coaching job.
Kenny Atkinson decided to join the Atlanta Hawks coaching staff after a brief assistant coaching stint with the New York Knicks from 2008-2012. Once the Hawks get eliminated (or win the championship), Atkinson will officially join the Brooklyn Nets in time for the NBA Draft and July’s free agency.
In an official press release announced today, Marks commented on the hiring of Atkinson:
“We are thrilled to announce Kenny Atkinson as our new head coach and to welcome him and his family to Brooklyn. Kenny’s years of NBA coaching experience working under successful head coaches such as Mike Budenholzer and Mike D’Antoni have provided him with the foundation and experience we were looking for in a head coach. We believe that Kenny’s core principles, leadership, communication skills and exceptional background in player development make him an ideal fit for the culture we are building in Brooklyn”.
The Brooklyn Nets finished 21-61 in one of its most embarrassing seasons yet. The first step to turning this organization around, as Marks knows, is hiring a new head coach. Now that the Nets have done this, they turn their attention to June and July with high hopes of adding more pieces to their currently deflated roster.
