Atlanta Hawks fires coach Nate McMillan

Tuesday saw the firing of Nate McMillan as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, assistant coach Joe Prunty will likely take over in the meantime. Since the 2020–21 season, McMillan, 58, has led Atlanta as its head coach. After the All-Star break, the 29-30 Hawks will be in seventh position in the Eastern Conference. Prunty will serve as the team’s interim head coach while the Hawks look for a permanent replacement; according to the Wojnarowski, Quin Snyder, a former head coach of the Jazz, Charles Lee, and Kenny Atkinson, an assistant coach for the Warriors, are all candidates.

Atlanta had high expectations for Young this season after signing All-Star point guard Dejounte Murray in the offseason to partner alongside Young. It was hoped that Murray’s superior defence would enable him to complement Young when they played together and that the Hawks would benefit from having a backup point guard when Young wasn’t available. Instead, the Hawks have had trouble maintaining a.500 basketball record. Not just McMillan is blamed for such difficulties; other leaders are as well. This season, the Hawks’ front office underwent a dramatic shakeup as Landry Fields replaced Travis Schlenk as director of basketball operations while Schlenk transitioned to an advising position.

Prunty will serve as the team’s interim coach for the time being for the second time in his career. Prunty led the Bucks to a 21-16 record in the regular season after taking over for Jason Kidd in 2018. In the first round of the playoffs, they were defeated by the Boston Celtics in a seven-game series. In 2021, McMillan took over as temporary coach for Lloyd Pierce and led the Eastern Conference to the championship game. He received a four-year deal and led the team to a 99-80 record. This season, the Hawks rank 21st in defensive efficiency and 16th in offensive efficiency.

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