Heartbreak, The head coach of Atlanta hawks head coach sheld tears due to coming of another coach.
Atlanta Hawks coach Nate McMillan was let go on Wednesday (AEDT) after leading the NBA franchise to a 29–30 start to the 2022–23 season.
Assistant coach Joe Prunty will take over as head coach in the interim, according to Hawks general manager Landry Fields.
Fields remarked, “We think it’s in the best interest of our team to move forward with another voice leading the way. Decisions like these, especially in-season, are always extremely difficult.”
After being fired in the middle of the 2021 season, McMillan began as an interim coach and led the Hawks to the Eastern Conference finals. He ended his tenure as coach with a 99-80 record.
Fields remarked, “I want to thank Nate for his professionalism and leadership during his time with the Hawks.”
We are grateful for his graciousness and diligent work ethic; he is a true class act. After serving as a guard with the Seattle SuperSonics for 12 NBA seasons, McMillan was in his 19th season as an NBA head coach, having previously held positions in Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, and Indiana.
McMillan has a 760-668 career NBA coaching record. He was an assistant coach for the US Olympic gold medal winning teams of NBA stars in 2008 and 2012.
When Lloyd Pierce was fired as the Hawks’ assistant coach in March 2021, McMillan was designated the team’s temporary head coach.
Under McMillan, the Hawks concluded the regular season 27-11 and made it past the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time in 54 years. They defeated Philadelphia and New York before losing to eventual champion Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference finals.
It was the longest postseason run he has ever had as a coach.
Although MacMillan was rewarded with a job as the Hawks’ new head coach in July, the team had only managed to finish eighth in the Eastern Conference standings at the All-Star Game break after losing to Miami in the previous year’s first round of the playoffs.
