Recognized again! Atkinson was elected as the best coach of the year and defeated the Rockets and Pistons coach to win the cup

On May 6, the NBA officially announced that Cavaliers coach Atkinson was elected coach of the year in the 2024-25 season. He defeated Pistons coach Bickstaff and Rockets coach Uduka, winning this award for the first time in his career. The Head Coach of the Year Trophy is currently named after the legendary head coach Auerbach, and the league has selected the Head Coach of the Year since the 1962-63 season.

Atkinson won 59 first votes, with a total score of 401 points, Bickstaff scored 305 points, Uduka scored 113 points, Dagenot scored 41 points, Tyron Lu scored 35 points, and Redick scored 5 points. Previously, Atkinson was also elected as the NBCA (American Coaches Association) Head Coach of the Year. The Coach Association’s Coach of the Year Award is voted on by the league’s 30 head coaches. Every coach has a vote, but he can't vote for himself. This also shows that Atkinson had already won recognition from his peers before being elected as the NBA's head coach of the year. Atkinson, 57, led the Cavaliers to a record of 64 wins and 18 losses this season, and advanced to the playoffs as the number one in the Eastern Conference. Last season, the Cavaliers ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference with 48 wins and 34 losses, while Atkinson led the team to win 16 more games, helping the team become the team with the best regular season record in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers swept the Heat 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs, and are currently behind the Pacers 0-1 in the second round.

Before coaching the Cavaliers, Atkinson also served as head coach for four seasons with the Nets. So far in his career, Atkinson has coached 390 regular season games, 182 wins and 208 losses, with a winning rate of 46.7%; has coached 10 playoff games, 5 wins and 5 losses, with a winning rate of 50%. The two head coaches defeated by Atkinson also had good coaching performance this season. Pistons coach Bickstaff led the team to 44 wins and 38 losses, ranking 6th in the Eastern Conference; Rockets coach Uduka led the team to 52 wins and 30 losses, ranking 2nd in the Western Conference.

Four head coaches in history have won this award three times, namely Larry Brown (ABA), Nelson Sr., Popovich and Pat Riley.

Part 10 Best Head Coach Award Winner -

2015-16 Season: Warriors' Cole

2016-17 Season: Rockets' D'Antoni

2017-18 Season: Raptors' Casey

2018-19 Season: Bucks' Budenholzer

2019-20 Season: Raptors' Nas

2020-21 season: Knicks' Thibodeau

2021-22 season: Suns' Monty Williams

2022-23 season: Kings' Mike Brown

2023-24 season: Thunder's Dagenot

2024-25 season: Cavaliers' Atkinson