The dust has settled and the Atlanta Hawks have decided to make some changes to the structure of their front office.
It appears that the Atlanta Hawks have finally made a decision about how their front office will be structured moving forward. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, Mike Budenholzer will relinquish his president of basketball operations duties and a search will begin for a new president of basketball operations.
Sources: Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer will relinquish president's duties, GM Wes Wilcox will remain in a high-ranking front office role.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 4, 2017
Wes Wilcox will not be fired, but he will no longer serve as general manager. Wojnarowski reports that Wilcox will be taking a different role within the front office.
These moves don’t come as a surprise.
On May 3rd, conflicting reports emerged about Wilcox’s status as general manager. ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman and Marc J. Spears reported that Wilcox and the Hawks had decided to “part ways”. The Hawks quickly denied those reports with a statement.
Statement from Hawks.com:
"“Hawks leadership is undergoing a period of evaluation and looking at how basketball operations works best. There are no changes to report at this time and any reports indicating otherwise are inaccurate.”"
It appears as if that evaluation period is complete. Budenholzer is now only the head coach and Wilcox is done as general manager. Wojnarowski dropped this nugget of information about what will come next.
"Majority owner Tony Ressler is starting a search to hire a new executive at the top of the Hawks masthead. Minority owner Grant Hill will be a significant part of the search process too, but Hill has yet to show any inclination to take on full-time basketball operations duties, league sources told The Vertical."
Will the Hawks look to hire an established executive, or former executive, like Sam Hinkie, Larry Bird, or David Griffin? I’d bet against it, but anything is possible.
Next: Atlanta Hawks 2016-17 Season Review: THJ
Soaring Down South will keep you posted on any new information that emerges on Atlanta’s search for a new president of basketball operations.