Trophy Race | Our favorites for Coach of the Year

Magic coach Jamahl Mosley From assistant to coach of the year, Kenny Atkinson was not late. The Cavaliers coach won the title last season thanks to a stellar season with Cleveland, the number one seed in the East and long in the running to finish among the best records in regular season history. Now it awaits its successor, although this trophy has never been won by the same coach twice in a row.

Jamahl Mosley, our favorite

The race to succeed him is pretty open this season, with quite different profiles. The vote was close within our editorial team, and it was Jamahl Mosley who collected the most first places. The Magic coach would thus specify the good work of his leaders behind the scenes this summer, after he had strengthened the team. The Florida franchise was hampered last season by injuries to a number of big players (Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, etc.) and couldn’t do better than playing (7th, 41 wins – 41 losses). But that’s forgetting that the Magic went from 22 wins in 2022 to 47 in 2024 under Jahmal Mosley.

Success for the Orlando coach would be validation for one of the rising names in the East, now targeting a Top 4 finish with the signing of Desmond Bain in particular. In a conference where many teams are in danger of falling down the pecking order, the accounting jump could be significant.

Name Udoka as the main underdog, Nick Nourse as the general surprise?

I’m not sure it will be that much for the Rockets and Making Udoka. But the Houston tech is one of the top contenders and is second in our poll. The arrival of Kevin Durant and the growing group around Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson gives hope great season in texas. However, we’ll have to do really better than second place in the Western Conference and the 52 wins we’ve accumulated to impress the voters.

Three more coaches received votes. David Adelman (Nuggets) et Mike Brown (The Knicks) get two of the strongest teams in the league, but who want to play for the title. Named in a miracle in Denverthe former accomplished the small feat of relaunching a Rockies team in the playoffs. Nikola Jokic’s teammates fell only in the seventh and final game against the Thunder, the eventual champion, in the conference semifinals. The second recovers the outgoing finalist from the East and the Sea take New York a step further after the Tom Thibodeau era. The former Cavaliers, Lakers or Kings coach is expected to bring a more open style to his teams, which could make the Knicks even more attractive when it comes time for end-of-season awards.

The last quoted coach, Nick Nurse is quite an outsider. It’s hard to know where the true level of his Philly team is after last season’s disaster. But the improvement – and therefore a season without too many problems for Joel Embiid and Paul George – could be one of the stories of the season: that of a strong comeback, but which would not be surprising given the quality of the team. Nick Nurse, like Mike Brown, would then win his second “Coach of the Year” title.