The Atlanta Hawks is a professional American basketball team that plays as a part of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team is based in Atlanta and its home stadium is the State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia.
The team has a pretty long history, dating all the way back to 1946 and the creation of the Buffalo Bisons, who were based, at that time, in Buffalo in New York. The team was owned by Ben Kerner and Leo Ferris and was a member of the National Basketball League (NBL). However, after just 38 days of residency in Buffalo, the team relocated to Moline, Illinois and rebranded as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. When the merger between the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and NBL occurred, they joined the newly created NBA and employed Red Auerbach as their coach. After just two years as a member of the NBA, in 1951, they relocated yet again to Milwaukee and became known as the Milwaukee Hawks. Four years later, they moved yet again, this time to St Louis, and became the St Louis Hawks. It was here that they won their one and only NBA CHampionships title in 1958 - and managed to reach the NBA Finals also in 1957, 1960 and 1961. In every one of these four NBA Finals, they had to face the legendary Boston Celtics - and won just one of those fixtures.
It wasn't until 1968 that the St Louis Hawks moved again, but this time to Atlanta. This is when Kerner sold the team to Thomas Cousins and Carl Sanders (former Governor of Georgia) and the team because the Atlanta Hawks that we know today
Behind the Sacramento Kings, the Atlanta Haws is the team with the second-longest drought of being unable to win the NBA Championships... having not won for more than 63 years, and even then, they didn't actually win as the Atlanta Hawks, but as the St Louis Hawks. The team also has the questionable honour of not making it past the second round of the playoffs for 48 years, until they finally managed to break through in 2015. Having said that, on the flip side, the Hawks are also one of only four teams in the NBA that has qualified for the NBA playoffs for ten seasons in a brown in the 21st century - between 2008 and 2017.
To date, the team has won 12 Division Titles and is currently the SouthEast Division title holder. However, they have yet to win any Eastern Conference titles and have only won the NBA Championships once - as the St Louis Hawks back in 1958. The team's President and General Manager is Travis Schlenk and the Head Coach is Nate McMillan.
Interesting Fact
The Atlanta Hawks were originally founded as the Buffalo Bisons in 1946. However, this wasn't the only team of that name founded in that year. 1946 was also the same year that the Buffalo Bisons football teams was founded - one town with two sports teams of the same name. However, the Bisons was a common name for sports teams in Buffalo.
Atlanta Hawks 2021 NBA Draft Picks
On the Thursday night 2021 NBA Draft, the Hawks selected Jalen Johnson with the 20th pick and Sarife Cooper with the 48th pick in the second round.
The Hawks had a pretty decent season last year, managing a regular-season record of 41-31 and placing fifth in the Eastern Conference, which was their best result for the past four years, having been unable to finish any higher than 12th since 2016-17. They also looked pretty hot in the playoffs, but eventually fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Conference Finals - their first finals since 2014-15.
In the 2020 offseason, they made some pretty decent signings that seemed to have some impact such as Danilo Gallinari and Bogdan Bogdanovic. They both missed more than twenty games but were healthy for most of the second half of the season - their return to health, a big trade and a change of coach did wonders for the team - and with Trae Young leading the scoring, averaging 25.3 points per game. If you take their last season form and factor in their newly drafted rookie season players they could have another great season.
How Will it Work?
The Atlanta Hawks confirmed the signing of rookie draft picks Jalen Johnson and Sharife Cooper, with Cooper being given a two-way contract.
The Hawks selected Johnson with their 20th overall pick. The young player made thirteen appearances with eight starts in his last season - his freshman season at Duke. In this time, he averaged 11.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
In his debut playing for the college team, the 6ft 9 player managed an impressive 19 points, 5 assists, 19 rebounds and 4 blocks in 35 minutes of play. This was just the start of some impressive stats that year. It's is clear that this is a player that can add some impact to a team that is already full of potential and he should fit in nicely with a squad that already boasts some excellent young talent.
The second-round pick was Cooper, a 6ft 1 player who was selected by the Hawks with the 48th overall pick. He made 12 appearances last season and also boasted some impressive statistics playing for Auburn, with an average of 20.2 points per game, 8.1 assists per game and 4.3 rebounds - with a play time of 33.1 minutes. Moreover, in every one of his 12 games, he manages to score double figures - and managed 28 points in two games. Cooper will work well with the team as, along with Trae Young, he is one of the two NCAA Division freshman players in the last 30 years that has averaged 20 points per game and 8 assists per game.
Cooper is in line for a two-way contract, which is only permissible for players with three or fewer years worth of NAB experience - and teams are only allowed to have no more than two two-way players on their roster at once. This means that he will spend time not only as an active player for up to 50 games with the Atlanta Hawks in regular season, but he will also spend time with the College Park Skyhawks - the Hawk's NBA G League Affiliate. So, he is certainly likely to get play time either in the NBA league or G League - or both.
Both players are skilled - and are looking to get game time in a team packed with potential, so the way they slot in will certainly be something that Head Coach Nate McMillan will have to focus on.
Atlanta Hawks 2021 NBA Draft
- First-round pick No. 20: Jalen Johnson from Duke
- Second-round pick No. 48: Sharife Cooper from Auburn
Moving Forward as a Team
Questions are being asked as to whether the Hawks should combine two of their young talents along with a draft pick and trade it for one of the Premier players. This is a possibility and certainly something with considering. This may well speed up their team improvements as it's hard to make too many inroads into playoffs with just one star player. They are also in need of a perimeter defender right now as they are short of one right now.
This is a team that is moving on up the league right now - as they have a lot of young talent on the squad and lots of depth - as well as Young... this alone should see them get into the top five of the Eastern Conference. But are they good enough to keep up with the Brooklyn Nets or Milwaukee Bucks? We don' think they are there quite yet, but given time they aren't far off and could well see a pretty impressive regular season result of around 53-29 or thereabouts.
Current Atlanta Hawks Players Under ContractS
- Trae Young
- John Collins
- Clint Capela
- Bogdan Bogdanovic
- Kevin Huerter
- Danilo Gallinari
- Clint Capela
- De'Andre Hunter
- Delon Wright
- Trae Young
- Onyeka Okongwu
- Cam Reddish
- Jalen Johnson
- Kevin Huerter
- Louis Williams
- Gorgui Dieng
- Tony Snell
- Solomon Hill
- Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
- Skylar Mays
- Sharife Cooper
Atlanta Hawks Free Agency Players 2021
- John Collins (restricted)
- Brandon Goodwin
- Solomon Hill
- Nathan Knight
- Skylar Mays (restricted)
- Tony Snell
- Lou Williams
Previous Atlanta Hawks Draft Selections Since 2000
Year Round Pick Player Pos Age Pre-Draft Team
2020 1 6 Onyeka Okongwu PF 19 USC
2020 2 50 Skylar Mays PG 23 LSU
2019 1 8 Jaxson Hayes PF 19 Texas
2019 2 10 Cam Reddish G 19 Duke
2019 2 35 Didi Louzada SF 19 Franca (Brazil)
2018 1 3 Luka Doncic SF 19 Real Madrid (Spain)
2018 1 19 Kevin Huerter SF 19 Maryland
2018 1 30 Omari Spellman PF 20 Villanova
2018 2 34 Devonte Graham PG 23 Kansas
2017 1 19 John Collins PF 19 Wake Forest
2017 2 41 Tyler Dorsey SG 21 Oregon
2017 2 60 Alpha Kaba PF 21 KK Mega Bemax
2016 1 21 DeAndre' Bembry GF 21 Saint Joseph's
2016 2 44 Isaia Cordinier G 19 Denain ASC Voltaire
2016 2 54 Kay Felder PG 21 Oakland
2015 1 15 Kelly Oubre Jr SF 19 Kansas
2015 2 50 Markus Eriksson GF 21 BAXI Manresa
2015 2 59 Dimitrios Agravanis F 20 Olympiacos
2014 1 15 Adreian Payne C 23 Michigan State
2014 2 43 Edy Tavares C 22 Gran Canaria
2013 1 17 Dennis Schroder PG 19 Basketball Lowen (Ger)
2013 1 18 Shane Larkin PG 20 Miami (Fl)
2013 2 47 Raulzinho Neto PG 21 Acunsa GBC
2013 2 50 James Ennis GF 22 Long Beach State
2012 1 23 John Jenkins SG 21 Vanderbilt
2012 2 43 Mike Scott PF 23 Virginia
2011 2 48 Keith Benson C 22 Oakland
2010 1 24 Damion James SF 22 Texas
2010 2 53 Pape Sy SF 22 STB Le Havre
2009 1 19 Jeff Teague PG 21 Wake Forest
2009 2 49 Sergii Gladyr G 20 MBC Mykolaiv (Ukraine)
2007 1 3 Al Horford FC 21 Florida
2007 1 11 Acie Law SG 22 Texas A&M
2006 1 5 Shelden Williams PF 22 Duke
2006 2 33 Solomon Jones C 21 South Florida
2005 1 2 Marvin Williams SF 19 North Carolina
2005 2 31 Salim Stoudamire G 22 Arizona
2005 2 59 Cenk Akyol G 18 Andolu Efes (Turkey)
2004 1 6 Josh Childress SF 21 Stanford
2004 1 17 Josh Smith PF 18 Oak Hill Academy
2004 2 34 Donta Smith GF 20 Southeastern Illinois
2004 2 42 Viktor Sanikidze F 18 JDA Dijon Basket (Fr)
2003 1 21 Boris Diaw PF 21 Pau Orthez (France)
2003 2 37 Travis Hanson GF 25 Brigham Young
2002 1 36 David Andersen F 22 Virtus Bologna (Italy)
2001 1 3 Pau Gasol FC 20 Barca Spain
2001 2 33 Terence Morris F 22 Maryland
2000 1 6 DeMarr Johnson G 20 Cincinnati
2000 2 40 Hanno Mottola FC 23 Utah
2000 2 57 Scoonie Penn G 23 Ohio State
Atlanta Hawks Draft Picks FAQs
Does Rajon Rondo Still Play for the Hawks?
No. Although on November 23, 2020, Rajon Rondo signed a multi-year deal for the Hawks from the LA Lakers, he has since signed for the Los Angeles Clippers. Rondo played for the Hawks in the 2020-21 season, debuting against the Detroit Pistons in December 2020, scoring 12 points, getting 8 assists and helping them to 128-2 win.
Will the Drafts Player Make the Starting Lineup?
This is yet to be established. The team is already packed full of young talent, so whether the new younger players on the team will stay and play or get traded is yet to be seen. The Head Coach will certainly need to decide whether not to make these sidebar Hawks players for now or whether they are ready to play. As Cooper is looking at a two-way contract, he may well have more time playing for the G League affiliate team.
