Kenny Atkinson enters season with Cavs’ trust, and plenty of pressure

Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson was NBA Coach of the Year two seasons ago. Last year, plenty of people around the league seemed to question him.

That doesn’t make those people right. Atkinson was the first coach to guide a non-LeBron James Cavs team to the conference finals since Lenny Wilkens in 1992. But this is the NBA, a place where coaches are hired to be fired.

And rumors indeed surrounded Atkinson after the Cavs were swept by the Knicks in the East finals. That included blowing a 22-point lead with less than eight minutes left in Game 1. So, yeah. Some fans wanted change.

The Cavs themselves never did. Donovan Mitchell strongly supported Atkinson after the season. So did James Harden. One day after the Cavs were eliminated, we learned Atkinson would be brought back. That’s trust from Dan Gilbert, Koby Altman, and the entire organization.

Still, if the Cavs are somewhat clunky this year and fail to look like real contenders … well, again, this is the NBA. ESPN’s Ben Golliver wrote as much, listing Atkinson among the coaches entering the year potentially on the hot seat. In Atkinson’s case, though, the seat isn’t hot. More like maybe warm-ish.

“Atkinson has had more success than almost all his coaching colleagues since he was hired by the Cavaliers in 2024,” Golliver wrote. “The former Warriors assistant followed up a sparkling 64-win season for Cleveland in 2024-25 with a 2026 East finals appearance, the franchise’s first without LeBron since 1992.”

That much is true. Atkinson deserves some credit for that, too. If you’re an NBA coach and you don’t have the respect of your players, you’re doomed. Your system and rotations won’t matter. You need the men in uniform to believe in you. By all accounts, Atkinson has that.

Still, as Golliver pointed out, you need both — the players’ admiration and the ability to get the most out of them at the season’s most crucial moments. We cannot say Atkinson has failed in either area. Nor can we say he’s coached them to the hoops pinnacle.

“Unfortunately, Atkinson’s Cavaliers have specialized in crash landings,” Golliver wrote. “During the 2025 playoffs, the top-seeded Cavs were blown off the court in the second round by the upstart Indiana Pacers, and Cleveland was largely uncompetitive against the Knicks while being swept out of the 2026 East finals.”

For the record, under Atkinson, the Cavs lost in the playoffs to two teams that went on to reach the Finals. That includes last season’s champions.

“How many consecutive agonizing endings can one coach survive?” Golliver wrote. “That’s the dilemma for Atkinson, who gets the benefit of coaching an expensive and talent-rich roster that boasts strong continuity. … The pieces remain in place for Cleveland to remain among the East’s leading contenders. What can Atkinson do to make sure his team puts its best foot forward when it matters most?”

I agree with Golliver on all fronts. Atkinson is a good coach and remains the right coach for this group. But fair or not, anything short of a Finals appearance will likely make his seat go from warm-ish to on fire.