Reports: Hornets expected to name Kenny Atkinson as the team’s next head coach

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Charlotte Hornets are expected to hire Kenny Atkinson to their vacant head coach position.

Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that it’s a 4-year deal:

Per Charania’s report, Atkinson met with team owner Michael Jordan on Wednesday and the organization decided on it Friday afternoon. Atkinson is currently finishing up an NBA Finals run with the Golden State Warriors, so any news of an introductory press conference is likely to come following the conclusion of the series.

Atkinson comes to Charlotte with an extremely impressive resume. He served as an assistant under Mike D’Antoni with the Knicks before joining Mike Budenholzer’s staff in Atlanta. He served as head coach of the Nets from the 2016-17 season through his resignation on March 7, 2020, making one playoff appearance (a 4-1 first round loss to Philadelphia) and compiling a 118-190 regular season record. He’s garnered a reputation as a developmental head coach that has great attention to detail and instills culture structure in his locker room. He spent the last two seasons as an assistant with the Clippers and Warriors, both successful teams with consistent performance on both offense and defense.

At The Hive will have more long-form thoughts on Atkinson’s hire once the news settles in. But for now, we can enjoy finally having a new head coach.