Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach Kenny Atkinson has been named Coach of the Year for the 2024-25 season, the NBA announced Monday.
In his first season, Atkinson led Cleveland to a 64-18 record, marking the second-most wins in a season in franchise history. Cleveland also won 30 road games this past season, a new team record for wins on the road in a single season. He became the fifth NBA coach ever to win 64 or more games in his first season with a new team.
The Cavaliers also improved its win total by 16 wins in Atkinson’s first season as head coach (Cleveland was 48-34 in 2023-24), tying the second largest win improvement in NBA history for a team who won at least 48 games the previous season.
Under Atkinson, the Cavaliers won the Central Division title for the first time since 2017-18 and finished as the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the fourth time in team history accomplishing that feat (2008-09, 2009-10, 2015-16). A two-time Eastern Conference Coach of the Month this season (October/November and December), Atkinson led Cleveland to three of the four longest winning streaks in the NBA and became just the fourth team in NBA history to start a season 15-0. The Cavs also won a franchise-best 16 straight games from February 5th to March 14th, winning eight of those games by double figures. It also marked the longest winning streak in the NBA on the year.
Atkinson and his coaching staff were also honored with coaching the 2025 NBA All-Star game in San Francisco this past February after securing the best record in the Eastern Conference over the first half of the season.
Cleveland was also the only team in the NBA this season to send three All-Stars to San Francisco (Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Evan Mobley).
Atkinson is the third coach in Cavaliers history to win the award (Bill Fitch in 1975-76 and Mike Brown in 2008-09), and he is also the 19th head coach in NBA history to earn the honor in his first season with a new team.
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