Revisiting Travis Schlenk’s tenure as Atlanta Hawks GM

After controversy within the front office, Schlenk was demoted from his position as President of Basketball Operation and GM to an advisory role. Eventually, this led to Schlenk leaving the organization altogether and moving on to the Washington Wizards. It was there that he was hired to be the senior vice president of player personnel in Washington. As for the Hawks, former NBA player Landry Fields was hired by the Hawks as the new GM. Originally, he was going to work alongside Schlenk in the front office, but that didn’t last very long.

Fields was tasked with trying to build the Hawks back to where they were in 2021 and the first big move was acquiring Dejounte Murray. In a lateral move, Atlanta traded Huerter to stay under the luxury tax threshold. However, Fields is simply adding on to what Schlenk had built for six years in Atlanta. Overall, it’s hard to call the rebuild a success as some of the moves didn’t work out as intended, but you can’t call it a failure either. To see what you built get turned into an Eastern Conference Finals appearance is a great feeling.

On the contrary, there is still a lot to be desired with the rebuild as it didn’t quite lead to consistent results. The Hawks still have a ton of young players to look forward to for years to come. Jalen Johnson, AJ Griffin, and Onyeka Okongwu add new revisions for what the team could look like in the coming years. As for Schlenk, he joins another franchise amid a rebuild. With his track record, the Wizards should be set up to be contenders once again in the future.

Meanwhile, Atlanta is simply working with what they have and is trying to build a contending roster from it.