The Atlanta Hawks have hired former Golden State Warriors assistant general manager Travis Schlenk to be the organization’s next general manager.
While no head coaches have been axed this offseason, it seems that the general manager carousel is in full swing in the NBA. On Wednesday, the Atlanta Hawks have found their new guy to replace the reassigned Wes Wilcox in former Golden State Warriors assistant general manager Travis Schlenk.
According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Atlanta decided to make the hiring of Schlenk official on Wednesday. He had previously been in the Golden State front office for 12 years, serving under general manager Bob Myers for the last five.
Atlanta has been a perennial playoff team in the Eastern Conference for the last decade, but only has one conference finals appearance to show for it. The Hawks have some young talent on the roster in point guard Dennis Schroder and small forward Taurean Prince, but Atlanta has found itself in the awful middle of the NBA hierarchy.
While the Hawks have finally found stability in new ownership group led by Tony Ressler, the general manager post has not been that since Danny Ferry’s highly publicized resignation. Wilcox had served under Ferry and did his best to tread water these last two years, but saw his and head coach Mike Budenholzer’s front office roles diminish.
Budenholzer rescinded his president of basketball operations role. Wilcox will stay on the Hawks front office staff but in a new role. Schlenk beat out other viable general manager candidates in David Griffin, Joe Dumars and Chauncey Billups among others.
Picking a top assistant from the Golden State front office was a smart and pragmatic move for the Hawks. Obviously, Schlenk wasn’t ever going to usurp one of the best in the business in Myers with Golden State. Joining a forward thinking front office like Atlanta’s is a solid move for him.
Atlanta largely transformed its organization half a decade ago with combing two strong proponents of the San Antonio Spurs culture in Budenholzer and Ferry in the front office. As long as Schlenk is in lock-step with Ressler, Budenholzer and Wilcox, this could be the front office move that sparks an honest reload for the Hawks.