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Kenny Atkinson is keeping his job with the Cavs.

The Cleveland Cavaliers need not look find to find a template for getting back to the Eastern Conference finals and getting over the hump next year.

Instead, the Cavs are brushing aside what the New York Knicks did. New York, led by first-year head coach Mike Brown, swept the Cavs, dominantly for an NBA Finals appearance for the first time since 1999.

A year ago, the Knicks were in the Cavs’ shoes after losing the East finals to the Indiana Pacers. The Knicks fired former head coach Tom Thibodeau to shake things up while keeping most of the roster intact.

It worked for the Knicks this season with a dominant Eastern Conference playoff run. Despite a slow start, New York dispatched the Atlanta Hawks in six games with three consecutive blowout wins to close out the series.

The Knicks then swept the Philadelphia 76ers convincingly, and Game 2 produced the only close contest, a six-point win for New York. Cleveland only had a close game in Game 1, a 115-104 overtime loss, and the Knicks rolled the rest of the way.

Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson will stay on despite getting swept. That said, Cleveland looks poised to make changes to the roster to boost chances for a deeper playoff run in 2027.

Kenny Atkinson Kept it Positive

Atkinson kept things positive for the Cavaliers during the Knicks series despite New York’s dominance on the scoreboard.

After all, the Cavs hadn’t been to the East finals since 2018 when the team had a superstar named LeBron James. Cleveland fell short in the East semifinals the past two seasons and got knocked out in the first round in 2023 when the team ended a four-year playoff drought.

“We jumped a barrier that we were stuck on, second round, stuck on that,” Atkinson told reporters after the Game 4 loss. “We made the jump again with a roster we’re trying to figure out in two-and-a-half months to get ready for the playoffs.”

“So, with not great preparation time to put it together on the fly, it says a lot about the guys in the room, so I consider it a success,” he added.

Cleveland had struggles this season in Year Two under Atkinson. The Cavaliers won eight fewer games and landed the No. 4 a year after earning the No. 1 seed with a 62-win season.

Kenny Atkinson Survived 1 Problem His Predecessor Didn’t

Atkinson’s initial success in Cleveland stemmed in part from center Evan Mobley’s big 2024-2025 season. As The Athletic’s Joe Vardon pointed out, Atkinson avoided the fate of preceding head coach J.B. Bickerstaff when Mobley didn’t match his Defensive Player of the Year season.

“Mobley thrived under Atkinson in their first season together, when he became an All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year,” Vardon wrote. “He seemed to take a step back during the regular season [no accolades and struggled offensively early on when Atkinson asked him to facilitate the offense more], but had a strong playoffs. Mobley’s lack of progress was a reason cited behind closed doors for the dismissal of Atkinson’s predecessor, J.B. Bickerstaff.”