In a press release issued by the Atlanta Hawks, the team has \u201cannounced that they will begin the search for a President of Basketball Operations and have hired Sportsology Group, a leading provider of strategic advisory and operational support in the sports industry, to direct the process. The team also announced that Landry Fields has been relieved of his duties as general manager, and Onsi Saleh has been promoted to general manager of the Atlanta Hawks and will oversee all day-to-day basketball operations for the team, effective immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
This Hawks\u2019 decision comes after they failed to reach the NBA Playoffs in back-to-back seasons. In that stretch, they went 76-88, the team failing to secure a .500 (or above) record in either 2023-24 or 2024-25.<\/p>\n
For a franchise led by a four-time All-Star in Trae Young, it\u2019s disappointing. For a franchise with 50 playoff appearances and an NBA championship, it\u2019s arguably unacceptable. Perhaps most importantly, for Hawks principal owner Tony Ressler, it was evidence that Fields wasn\u2019t the right man to lead the franchise into an era of prosperity.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery offseason we evaluate how we operate and ways we can improve our organization,\u201d Ressler would say. \u201cAs we enter this pivotal offseason, we have several complex decisions ahead of us, and we are committed to providing the human and financial resources needed to ensure that we navigate these decisions with a high level of precision and foresight. Adding an accomplished, senior-level leader to provide strategic direction and structure as well as partnering with Onsi and our talented front office is a top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would genuinely like to thank Landry for his leadership during his time with us. Landry made our franchise better and left contributions that have positioned us for growth. I am grateful for his dedication and wish him success in his next endeavor.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In his pressers, Fields always came off as sincere and candid. He never shied away from holding himself accountable. Those traits are all admirable and should be commended. If only every lead front office executive carried themselves with that level of integrity.<\/p>\n
Even so, the bottom line is that Fields failed to accomplish what he set out to achieve. His decision-making was at the heart of the issue.<\/p>\n
The Saddiq Bey Trade<\/h3>\n
At the 2023 NBA Trade Deadline, Fields traded five second-round picks for Saddiq Bey<\/a>. \u00a0Bey would play just 88 games with the team, rarely being a flush fit. He would also trade Frank Kaminsky<\/a>, Justin Holiday<\/a>, and two second-round picks for Bruno Fernando<\/a> and Garrison Mathews<\/a>. Both Fernando and Mathews have had memorable moments with the Hawks. Nevertheless, two years later and neither have stuck in the rotation.<\/p>\n
The Coaching Carousel<\/h3>\n
Less than weeks later and Fields fired Nate McMillan, who was 99-80 as the team\u2019s head coach. It\u2019s rumored that a disagreement between Young and McMillan preceded the latter\u2019s dismissal<\/a>. Alternatively, Young doesn\u2019t feel personally responsible. However, it\u2019s telling that the organization began to question his leadership<\/a>. In any case, Fields made a choice to prioritize Young.<\/p>\n
Hiring Quin Snyder, who had plenty of success with the Utah Jazz, did appear to be a shrewd move. Yet, the mad genius has gone just 86-99 with the Hawks, missing the playoffs in two of his three seasons. That\u2019s nearly the inverse of McMillan\u2019s tenure, especially as he coached Atlanta to the NBA Playoffs back-to-back.<\/p>\n
The 2023 Offseason<\/h3>\n
The following summer, Fields drafted Kobe Bufkin<\/a> with the 15th overall pick. Bufkin, as injury-prone as any player, has only appeared in 27 games. Among the members of the 2023 NBA Draft class, he ranks 45th in career minutes (320), 43rd in career points (134), and 38th in career assists (44).<\/p>\n
Later that month, he traded John Collins<\/a>. A fan favorite, Collins was essentially given away for a future second-round pick. On the one hand, Collins seemed to be in the midst of a decline and his lack of lateral mobility was problematic at the defensive end. On the other hand, the high-flyer was Young\u2019s favorite receiver.<\/p>\n
The Last Rites<\/h3>\n
Let\u2019s forward to last summer.<\/p>\n
Trading Dejounte Murray<\/a> in a package headlined by Dyson Daniels<\/a> may have worked out in the end. Yet, it was a gamble by Fields, as Daniels had yet to break out as a player. Drafting Zaccharie Risacher<\/a> at No. 1 wasn\u2019t a ludicrous decision as he had long been touted as a potential top pick. Nonetheless, the Frenchman seemingly lacks the All-Star upside that\u2019s usually possessed by No. 1 picks.<\/p>\n
At the 2025 NBA Trade Deadline, he shipped off Bogdan Bogdanovic<\/a> and De\u2019Andre Hunter<\/a>, two of the team\u2019s best players. Indeed, Hunter was enjoying a career season, averaging 19.0 points per game. In return, the Hawks received Terance Mann<\/a>, Bones Hyland<\/a>, Caris LeVert<\/a>, and Georges Niang<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Despite their need for a backup guard<\/a>, they waived Hyland. The ever unpredictable LeVert saw his 3-point percentage fall off a cliff and will be a free agent this offseason. True to form, Niang was arguably the team\u2019s worst defender, his best tool at that end being trash talk. Mann did well in his 3-and-D role but his limitations as a shot-creator exacerbated Atlanta\u2019s existing problems.<\/p>\n
Taking The Lead<\/h3>\n
As the Hawks move forward, Saleh will likely make their key decisions in the interim. A fast riser, the young executive has served in roles such as<\/a> Vice President of Basketball Strategy & Team Counsel (Golden State Warriors) and Director of Strategy & Process (San Antonio Spurs).<\/p>\n
The Stein Line\u2019s eponymous insider Marc Stein reports that Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand is in consideration<\/a> for the team\u2019s President of Basketball Operations vacancy.<\/p>\n
Of note, Brand is credited with trading for Jimmy Butler III<\/a> during the team\u2019s 2018-19 season. Conversely, he\u2019s been criticized for the lucrative long-term contracts he offered to Ben Simmons<\/a>, Tobias Harris<\/a>, and Al Horford<\/a> shortly afterwards. In Brand\u2019s defense, nobody could\u2019ve predicted that Simmons\u2019 career would be turned upside-down<\/a>. Furthermore, Horford has been prized by<\/a> the Boston Celtics, with who he won a championship in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a press release issued by the Atlanta Hawks, the team has \u201cannounced that they will begin the search for a President of Basketball Operations and have hired Sportsology Group, a leading provider of strategic advisory and operational support in the sports industry, to direct the process. The team also announced that Landry Fields has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":135614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1608,62,556,3,13],"tags":[224,49237,98,4557,1382,49191,1349],"class_list":["post-135582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","category-news","category-76ers","tag-elton-brand","tag-landry-fields","tag-nba-draft","tag-nba-offseason","tag-nba-trade","tag-onsi-saleh","tag-trae-young"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135617,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135582\/revisions\/135617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}