The news of Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson's firing dominated headlines on Saturday. In a development that came as a bit of a surprise, Atkinson was fired by Nets owner Joe Tsai, who called the coach after consulting with players, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
The team announced that they and Atkinson mutually agreed to part ways stating the change would be “in the best interest of the team.
“Kenny was instrumental in developing our players and building the identity and culture we have become known for over these past four seasons,” The Nets general manager Sean Marks said on Friday. “The foundation he helped put in place here is one that we will continue to build on in the coming seasons.
In three-plus seasons as the head coach in Brooklyn, Atkinson compiled a 118-90 record and ranks third all-time in franchise history for games coached and fourth in wins.
This past offseason, the Nets signed superstars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in free agency. Durant has not played this season due to injury and Irving while having a career-year while healthy, has missed much of the season and has been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
So, despite high expectations after making their first playoff appearance since 2015 last season, Brooklyn has struggled with a 28-34 record with 20 games left to play.
Still, that losing record is good enough for the Nets to currently have the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference where, if the season ended today, would pit them against the defending-champion Toronto Raptors in the first round.
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