NBA News: Former Sixers Assistant Gains More Interest From Charlotte Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets closed the book on James Borrego after the team failed to make the playoffs under his management for the fifth-straight season. As expected, the Hornets put together a list of a wide range of candidates as they look to find the right coach to get them into the postseason.
Charlotte narrowed down the search to three candidates. The Hornets considered former Houston Rockets head coach and former Philadelphia 76ers assistant Mike D’Antoni along with former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts and current Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson.
With final meetings happening throughout the course of the last two weeks, the Hornets offered the job to Atkinson, who was helping coach the Warriors through a championship run. Atkinson verbally agreed to take over for the Hornets, but he had a change of heart recently.
Over the weekend, Atkinson decided it would be best to keep coaching under Steve Kerr in Golden State. As Kerr’s top assistant is set to take over the Sacramento Kings job, Atkinson will find himself promoted to become the Warriors’ top assistant.
That left the Hornets looking for yet, another replacement. With the search opened once again, the Hornets are going back and looking at some of their previous candidates, beginning with Mike D’Antoni.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, D’Antoni will meet with Charlotte’s owner, Michael Jordan, on Tuesday to discuss the job once again. Considering D’Antoni was a finalist before the Hornets ultimately chose Atkinson, it seems there is a good chance that the former Sixers assistant could land the job.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
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