The G League’s Santa Cruz Warriors are the 2024 team of the year…
J.B. Bickerstaff was fired by the franchise on Thursday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported and the team later confirmed.
Wojnarowski mentioned Golden State Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson as a potential replacement for Bickerstaff. He spent four seasons as the Brooklyn Nets’ head coach, where he worked with two current Cavs in Allen and Caris LeVert.
Atkinson, an assistant coach with the Warriors for the last three seasons, has been linked to several head-coaching vacanies over the last few years but has yet to take a job.
The 45-year-old Bickerstaff took over as the Cavs’ interim head coach in February 2020 when John Beilein resigned. He was then given four full seasons in the role, compiling a 170-159 record with playoff appearances in each of the last two seasons.
This past season was Bickerstaff’s most successful in terms of the postseason. The Cavs earned the No. 4 seed and defeated the Orlando Magic in the first round before falling to the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the second round. Injuries to Jarrett Allen and Donovan Mitchell dashed any chances at pulling off the upset in the conference semifinals.
The Cavs’ future is now in flux as president of basketball operations Koby Altman must weigh what to do with the roster. Mitchell has one year left on his contract and could be a trade candidate if he won’t sign an extension, while the big-man pairing of Allen and Evan Mobley has yielded mixed results.
