It was Shams Charania of The Athletic who broke the news via Twitter Wednesday.
According to the report, the Warriors are already nearing an agreement with the 54-year-old mentor to put Atkinson side-by-side with Warriors’ assistant coach Mike Brown. This now gives Steve Kerr two former head coaches as lead assistants which should be nothing but huge for the 2018 champs.
Atkinson is currently the lead assistant coach of the Los Angeles Clippers alongside head coach Ty Lue. Prior to his stint in LA, he did spend some time as an assistant coach for the New York Knicks and the Atlanta Hawks before becoming the Nets’ head coach from 2016-2020.
The former head coach is highly esteemed among the league and was even linked with a few head coaching stints in the league this off-season. Atkinson made a name for himself for turning the lowly Nets franchise around in 2016 to landing superstars like Kyrie Irving and former Warriors Finals MVP Kevin Durant before he parted ways with the Brooklyn-based franchise.
More coaching experience should only result in more wins for the Warriors who missed the playoffs for two consecutive seasons after winning three championships in four seasons. With Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green leading the way, this potential new-look coaching staff of Steve Kerr should be ready to go come the 2021-2022 NBA season.
