Sources: Cavs can pursue Knicks, Heat assistants

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been granted permission to interview two more head-coaching candidates in the franchise’s ongoing search, including New York Knicks associate head coach Johnnie Bryant and Miami Heat top assistant Chris Quinn, sources told ESPN on Friday.

Bryant has spent four years on Tom Thibodeau’s staff and previously worked his way from player development coach to a front-of-the-bench assistant with the Utah Jazz, where he worked closely with Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell for six years.

Quinn, an Ohio native, has spent 10 years on Erik Spoelstra’s staff with the Heat after an NBA and European playing career that included stops with the Heat, Nets, Spurs and Cavaliers. Quinn has been gaining traction as a head-coaching candidate in the past two hiring cycles.

Bryant and Quinn join Golden State‘s Kenny Atkinson and New Orleans‘ James Borrego as assistants whom the Cavaliers have been given permission to interview for a job that became available after J.B. Bickerstaff’s dismissal.

The Cavaliers advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals this season and won 99 regular-season games in the past two years.

Borrego is a serious candidate in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ search, which included a second interview with the Lakers’ front office in Los Angeles on Wednesday, sources told ESPN.

Borrego led the Charlotte Hornets to back-to-back Eastern Conference play-in tournament berths as a head coach, improving from 23 to 33 to 43 victories in his three seasons on the job. Like Atkinson, Borrego has a strong reputation in player development — including in Borrego’s decade with the Spurs as an assistant to Gregg Popovich.

Atkinson was 118-190 in three-plus years with the Nets, inheriting a full rebuild and showing improvement each season until he resigned during an injury-plagued 2019-20 season. Atkinson has strong relationships with two key Cavaliers players from those Nets teams: Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert.

Atkinson spent the 2020-21 season with the Clippers as an assistant before joining Steve Kerr’s Golden State staff, where he has spent the past three years. Previously, Atkinson spent nine seasons as an NBA assistant, four with the Knicks and three with the Atlanta Hawks.