A huge shock was sent through the NBA world on Saturday afternoon when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported that Kenny Atkinson had backed out of an agreement to become the Charlotte Hornets’ next head coach.
Instead, Wojnarowski first reported, Atkinson will remain an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors, who won the 2022 league championship on Thursday.
Now a big question becomes whether or not the Utah Jazz’s coaching search will get affected by the Hornets job opening up again after Atkinson, the former head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, had reportedly agreed to become coach on June 10.
Utah and Charlotte are the only two teams in the NBA that have head coaching vacancies.
It is not clear if the Hornets will re-enage their other previous finalists for the job, but if they do, it could affect the Jazz’s decision.
Wojnarowski had previously reported that veteran coach Mike D’Antoni was Charlotte’s runner-up to Atkinson, and Wojnarowski added on Saturday that another longtime coach, Terry Stotts, was the third finalist.
Mike D'Antoni and Terry Stotts were the other two finalists for the job, sources said. Charlotte will have to restart process now. https://t.co/X5yMR8fybK
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 18, 2022
It has been widely reported that Stotts is a candidate for the Jazz’s opening.
Beyond those two, will any of Utah’s candidates now decide to pursue the Hornets job (former Jazz coach Quin Snyder resigned on June 5, meaning Charlotte’s search was in its final stages before that occurred)?
There has not been any known reporting along those lines, but it stands to reason it could happen.
A less important question for Utah at this point but still one of potential interest is whether or not Snyder will pursue the Hornets job.
When he resigned, the prevailing thought was that he will take a break from coaching during the 2022-23 season and get a job next summer, although many did wonder if he would try to get a new job immediately.
Snyder has significant connection to the state of North Carolina, as he went to college at Duke.
Would Charlotte owner Michael Jordan, who went to rival North Carolina, make a call to gauge Snyder’s interest in the job?