NEWSLETTER
The Atlanta Hawks have made a mid-season coaching change. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, head coach Nate McMillan has been relieved of his duties. The Hawks currently sit 29-30 and 8th in the Eastern Conference.
Woj reports that assistant coach Joe Prunty will fill in as the interim head coach.
McMillan took over as the Hawks’ interim head coach during the 2020-21 season after the firing of Lloyd Pierce. He helped the organization turn a 14-20 record into an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, thus earning himself a fresh four-year deal in the offseason. Now, after just one full season serving as the team’s leader in 2022-23, McMillan is getting the boot.
The news also comes only roughly two months after a report stated that McMillan could possibly look to retire mid-season. The long-time NBA coach went on to quickly deny those reports to ESPN, but he didn’t fully shut down the idea of revisiting his career plans during the summer.
The Hawks will now embark on an immediate search for a new head coach, with Woj already name-dropping former-Jazz head coach Quin Snyder as a top candidate.
In the meantime, it will be very interesting to see how the Hawks respond to this firing. Will the young and talented roster see a boost like they did when McMillan took over or will the wheels start to fall off? Let’s not forget that only 3.0 games currently separate Chicago and Atlanta in the standings, so every game will count during this post-All-Star break stint.
