The Atlanta Hawks have a problem at home.
In an utterly bizarre statistic, the Hawks are the only team in the entire league to post a home record below .500 (9-13) while also posting a road record above .500 (14-12).
While some of this unusual metric can be attributed to the teams that they've played to date (more difficult opponents at home than on the road), it certainly doesn't account for such a keen disparity.
The good news? Other teams have demonstrated a clear fix to this problem – a fix that the Hawks would be wise to follow.
The Hawks should look to recent NBA home success stories
The Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs have both implemented two very successful schematics to gain home-court advantage.
The Clippers infamously crafted "The Wall" a few seasons back. This section – exclusively for Clipper fans – allowed their most passionate fans to pack into a section constructed to allow for more crowd density – and chaos – in order to better support their players.
Unsurprisingly, this scheme has worked wonders. Not only have the Clippers gone on a recent streak of victories, but most of them have come at home. Bolstered by the energy of their fans (and the structure of their arena), the Clippers are enjoying a beautiful last month of basketball. They post an impressive 12-9 home record, despite sitting 4 games below .500 on the year.
Additionally, an in-depth analysis was conducted last year on how effective the Clippers' Wall actually was when disrupting opponent's free throws. Non-Wall attempts ranked 3rd lowest in the league - 76%. Some disruption was taking place. But Wall attempts? These converted a mere 73% of the time, easily the lowest in the league.
Aside from focusing on the Clippers in the graph below, see if you can find the Hawks right where you'd expect with their home struggles pouring over into this season.
Steve Ballmer's Intuit Dome "Wall" may have actually worked at making Clippers opponents miss free throws 👀 pic.twitter.com/bCT97np6nV
— Lev Akabas (@LevAkabas) April 17, 2025
The Spurs, while not investing quite as much into their budget for their fan section, have recently implemented a rowdy, European football-esque section into their arena, dubbing it "The Jackals."
This section allows fans to try out to join – they have to prove their immense capability to produce noise and get loud for the team they love. Superstar Victor Wembanyama was the mastermind behind this project, inspired by his experience playing in Europe, where fans are known to be much more influential in disrupting games.
The Spurs have reaped delicious rewards from this experiment. They're currently 16-5 at home, with a less impressive 15-9 record on the road.
The Hawks don't have to construct a whole new section in their arena if they don't want to – though it may help. If the organization is interested in standing out from the rest of the league while creating a unique way to express Hawks culture, they need to let the voices of their most proud, most vocal, and most loyal fans be heard.
The 404 Crew already takes Hawks culture to the next level, but it has one key issue – its location. Far away from the court in the corner of the stadium, it's not quite the same as the Clips' Wall or the Spurs' Jackals. Atlanta could move this section closer to the court and center it, or they could create a new section entirely. Either way, the Hawks would be wise to make an adjustment.
If the front office can foster this into a palpable advantage through organized techniques not dissimilar to LA or San Antonio, excellent. If not, it falls to the fans.