Kenny Atkinson’s first season as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers will include his first time as a head coach in the All-Star Game.
Atkinson’s Cavaliers (36-7) clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference through games played this Sunday thanks to the Boston Celtics‘ 117-96 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night. As a result, Atkinson will coach one of the four teams in the revamped All-Star Game format on Feb. 16 at Chase Center in San Francisco.
An assistant coach from the Cleveland staff will serve as a head coach for another one of the four teams.
The other two head coaches will be Mark Daigneault of the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, as well as an assistant from his staff, as previously announced.
Atkinson is the first Cavaliers to coach in the All-Star Game since Tyronn Lue in the 2015-16 season.
The NBA adopted a new one-night All-Star Game tournament this season with three teams comprising eight All-Stars drafted by former NBA players Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal of TNT’s “Inside the NBA.”
The winner of the Rising Stars challenge competition between first- and second-year players will be the fourth team in the All-Star Game tournament.
Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.