The Atlanta Hawks became one of the best stories of the season in the second half after they began to get healthy and started to hit their stride under interim head coach Nate McMillan. The former Blazers and Pacers coach had been the lead assistant on Lloyd Pierce’s staff, but when Pierce was let go as the team was underachieving and star Trae Young was growing disgruntled, McMillan took over.
This coincided with some key pieces, namely Bogdan Bogdanovic, getting back on the floor, and with a new voice and more of the full roster available the Hawks flourished, going 37-19 to close the season under McMillan’s guidance. They continued their magical run all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, before they were ultimately bounced in six games by the Milwaukee Bucks. It was expected by the end of the regular season that, barring something unforeseen, McMillan would be retained long-term and have the interim tag removed. By the time the Hawks found themselves in the conference finals, that became a mere formality.
On Monday, Hawks president Travis Schlenk officially announced on his exit interview media call that McMillan would be staying around with an agreement having been finalized earlier in the morning. Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, it’s a four-year deal for McMillan, which puts him in Atlanta for most of Trae Young’s next contract.
That connection with Young is the most important part of all of this. Young had a rocky relationship with Pierce, and has spoken in nothing but glowing terms about McMillan to this point. On a team where Young is the star, that matters as much if not more than rotations and X’s and O’s, and will be where McMillan must continue to excel and find ways to unlock more from Young who had a star-making first playoff run.