# 2 – Dikembe Mutombo
While Millsap left Atlanta to join the Nuggets, Dikembe Mutombo left Denver to join the Hawks. The Nuggets let Mutombo walk in 1996, just five years after the team selected him fourth overall.
Atlanta was able to scoop the future Hall-of-Famer up in free agency, and the 7’2 center spent his prime in the ATL.
Mutombo and Steve Smith helped form the team back into a real playoff threat for the first time since Dominique Wilkins left, winning 56 games in his first year.
Mostly known for his shot-blocking, Mutombo also led the league in rebounds per game in two seasons while in Atlanta and is the Hawks’ all-time leader in defensive rating. Two of his four Defensive Player of the Year awards were won as a Hawk.
Mutombo made the All-Star team in each of his years with the team (minus 1999, when there was no All-Star weekend thanks to a lock-out), averaging a double-double in his five years with the team.
Just like Millsap, the Hawks’ roster began getting really young around the time Mutombo was set to leave, and the team traded him to the 76ers in 2001, with Mutombo being Allen Iverson‘s right-hand man during their Finals run.