Nate McMillan was fired by the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday and, while a big coaching search is planned, the franchise’s top replacements have been revealed.
It was on Tuesday instead of Friday but Nate McMillan got fired on his day off. Just two days before the end of the NBA All-Star break, the Atlanta Hawks fired their head coach and named Joe Prunty as the interim.
McMillan getting fired, while the desire of some fans, was a bit surprising, the fact of the matter is that the Hawks underperformed in the playoffs a year ago but were just 29-30, a sub-.500 record, at the break. On top of that, reports of strife with star guard Trae Young have bubbled under the surface all season.
Now, the organization will begin the search for a new head coach. And while Atlanta plans to make sure they do their due diligence, a favorite and some runners-up in that race have already emerged.
NBA Rumors: Hawks replacements for Nate McMillan led by Quin Snyder
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Hawks have former Utah Jazz head coach and slick-back hairstyle enthusiast Quin Snyder circled as the top candidate to replace McMillan. After Snyder, the other two top candidates mentioned by Woj are Milwaukee assistant Charles Lee and Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson.
Snyder, who played his college basketball under Coach K at Duke, was an assistant for the Hawks from 2013-14 before landing with the Jazz. For his full time in Utah from 2014-22, he accrued a 372-264 record — though that was paired with a 21-30 record in the postseason. With that said, he made the playoffs in each of his last six seasons with the Jazz.
Lee and Atkinson, meanwhile, have been hot coaching candidates in previous offseasons as well with several teams eyeing them as potential hires.
For the Hawks, though, Snyder begins the coaching search as the top candidate. There is a long time for the franchise to change their mind, not be able to hire Snyder, or find another candidate they like better. Now simply begins a long waiting game.