Trae Young will have a new head coach … the Atlanta Hawks have just fired Nate McMillan.
The team confirmed the coach’s dismissal on Tuesday afternoon … with general manager Landry Fields saying in a statement, “it’s in the best interest of our team to move forward with another voice leading the way.”
McMillan had been in control of the team since the 2020-21 season, when he took over as interim head coach. He piled up a record of 99-80 in his time as head man — though ATL was just 29-30 under his leadership this year.
The team said Joe Prunty will take over for McMillan the rest of this season.
After that, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Hawks are expected to take a long look at former Utah Jazz head coach Quinn Snyder for the full-time role.
McMillan’s dismissal comes just weeks after reports surfaced that he and Young’s relationship had been deteriorating … following a conflict with the superstar in December.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Trae skipped a shootaround at the time to get treatment for shoulder soreness he was experiencing … which rubbed McMillan wrong.
Hawks guard @TheTraeYoung this morning… answering all the question about missing Friday’s game and his displeasure with private conversations being made public – worth a listen pic.twitter.com/DjBsgpljiX
— Zach Klein (@ZachKleinWSB) December 5, 2022
@ZachKleinWSB
The coach eventually called the incident between him and the point guard a “miscommunication” … but Young was clearly upset with the situation when he spoke about it all with reporters in the ensuing days.
The Hawks have made the playoffs in consecutive seasons under McMillan … but the team has struggled all season and is currently in the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.