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The Atlanta Hawks and Quin Snyder are progressing in talks on a deal to make him the franchise’s next coach, and a resolution could be reached within days, sources told ESPN on Friday.
After firing coach Nate McMillan on Tuesday, the Hawks have made Snyder the full focus of the coaching search, sources said. Snyder has been engaged with general manager Landry Fields, assistant GM Kyle Korver and owner Tony Ressler on a wide-range of philosophical and team building items in recent days and those conversations are expected to continue through the start of the weekend, sources said.
Although Snyder is out of the country with his family, the sides have been spending time talking in detail on how they’d work together to develop a partnership, sources said.
The Hawks are prepared to make a significant contractual commitment to Snyder, who’s considered the top coach available in the marketplace this year, sources said.
If Snyder takes over this season, the organization would certainly welcome a turnaround on a sub-.500 season, but moreso is determined to give Snyder a chance to start evaluating the team’s personnel and collaborating on the baseline of a reshaped culture and program, sources said.
The hiring of Snyder could go a long way toward stabilizing an organization that made changes with its president of basketball operations, Travis Schlenk, and McMillan within months in the regular season. Snyder is considered one of the NBA’s top coaches, teachers and program builders.
The Hawks promoted assistant Joe Prunty to interim coach of a team that’s 29-30 and in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
Snyder had history as a Hawks assistant coach under Mike Budenholzer prior to become the Utah Jazz’s head coach. Snyder led the Jazz to six consecutive trips to the Western Conference playoffs, including three berths in the conference semifinals.
Snyder, 56, resigned after the 2021-2022 season and had been a focus of coaching searches by the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets since the offseason, sources said.
Atlanta has significant offseason decisions to make on how they want to shape the roster, and the chance to move quickly on hiring could give them a better prism with which how they’ll evaluate the franchise’s future. Fields has wanted a coach who’ll improve the franchise’s player development, accountability and getting the team moving toward the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rankings – all hallmarks of Snyder’s teams in the NBA.
The Hawks are 16th in offensive efficiency and 21st in defensive efficiency this season. Internally, Fields has emphasized the defining of what a Hawks player will be and wants Snyder to start shaping those characteristics.
For now, Prunty will take over as interim head coach for the second time in his career. After replacing Jason Kidd in 2018, Prunty was 21-16 in the regular season for the Milwaukee Bucks as interim coach. The Bucks lost a seven-game series to the Celtics in that opening-round of the playoffs.
McMillan replaced Lloyd Pierce as interim coach in 2021 and engineered a run to the Eastern Conference Finals. He was awarded a four-year contract and had a 99-80 record as head coach.
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