- Awards And Honors:
- National Basketball Association Championship (1958)
- Date:
- 1946 - present
- Headquarters:
- Atlanta
- Areas Of Involvement:
- Basketball
Atlanta Hawks
News •
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Who are the Atlanta Hawks?
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta and a part of the NBA since its establishment in 1949. Founded in 1946, the Hawks initially played as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, then relocated to Milwaukee and St. Louis, where they won their only championship in 1958, defeating the Boston Celtics.
In 1968, the Hawks moved to Atlanta, featuring stars like Dominique Wilkins. Despite Wilkins' impressive scoring, the team didn't advance past the second round of the NBA playoffs during his 12 seasons. After a long playoff drought, the Hawks had a strong season in 2014–15, reaching the Eastern Conference finals. In 2018, they drafted Trae Young, but have since struggled to build a well-rounded team.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
In which league do the Atlanta Hawks play?
The Atlanta Hawks are a professional basketball team based in Atlanta and were one of the original franchises when the National Basketball Association (NBA) was established in 1949. The Hawks franchise was founded as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in 1946. They played in the National Basketball League for three seasons before joining the NBA.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Where do the Atlanta Hawks play their home games?
I can tell you about the Atlanta Hawks. The Atlanta Hawks are a professional basketball team based in Atlanta and were one of the NBA's original franchises, established in 1949. The team's origins trace back to Moline and Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa, where they were known as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in 1946. They moved to Atlanta in 1968. The Hawks won their only championship in 1958.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Who are some famous players that have played for the Atlanta Hawks?
The Atlanta Hawks, an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, were one of the original franchises of the National Basketball Association (NBA) when the league was established in 1949.
Some famous players that have played for the Atlanta Hawks include:
* Bob Pettit Drafted in 1954, he is a Hall of Famer who improved the team's fortunes.
* Pete Maravich, Walt Bellamy, and Lou Hudson These stars played for the early Atlanta teams after the team relocated to Atlanta in 1968.
* Dominique Wilkins Known as "the Human Highlight Film," he led the Hawks to four consecutive 50-win seasons in the 1980s.
* Trae Young He led the fifth-seeded Hawks on an unexpectedly deep playoff run.
* Dikembe Mutombo He signed with the Atlanta Hawks in 1996 and continued his defensive dominance, winning two more Defensive Player of the Year awards.2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Have the Atlanta Hawks ever won an NBA championship, and if so, when?
Yes, the Atlanta Hawks have won one NBA championship. The team won its only championship in 1958. At the time, the team was located in St. Louis and defeated the Boston Celtics in the finals.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Atlanta Hawks, American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks were one of the original franchises of the National Basketball Association (NBA) when the league was established in 1949. The team won its only championship in 1958.
Originally founded in Moline and Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa, as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in 1946, the team played in the National Basketball League for three seasons before the founding of the NBA. They relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, before the 1951–52 season and shortened their nickname to the “Hawks.” After years of middling success, the Hawks drafted future Hall of Famer Bob Pettit with the second overall pick of the 1954 NBA draft, and the team’s fortunes began to improve. The Hawks moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1955 and advanced to the NBA Finals after the 1956–57 season, where they lost to the Boston Celtics in seven games. The Hawks defeated the Celtics in their finals rematch the following season, earning the first title in franchise history. Although the Hawks returned to the playoffs in all but one of the following 15 seasons, they advanced to the finals only twice, losing to the Celtics on both occasions.
| season | record | playoffs |
|---|---|---|
| 2019–20 | 20–47 | missed playoffs |
| 2020–21 | 41–31 | lost in conference finals |
| 2021–22 | 43–39 | lost in first round |
| 2022–23 | 41–41 | lost in first round |
| 2023–24 | 36–46 | missed playoffs |
The Hawks were sold to a Georgia-based group in 1968, and they relocated to Atlanta. The early Atlanta teams featured such stars as Pete Maravich, Walt Bellamy, and Lou Hudson. In 1982 the Hawks acquired the most recognizable superstar of its Atlanta years in a post-draft trade that brought rookie Dominique Wilkins into the fold. Wilkins—known as “the Human Highlight Film” because of his impressively acrobatic slam dunks—led the Hawks to four consecutive 50-win seasons in the 1980s and made his mark as one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history. His individual accomplishments did not lead to postseason success for his team, however, as Atlanta did not advance past the second round of the NBA playoffs in any of his 12 seasons with the Hawks.
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The 1999–2000 season was the beginning of the longest playoff drought in Atlanta’s history, but the Hawks returned to postseason play during the 2007–08 season with a young team that pushed the eventual-champion Celtics to seven games in their first-round series. The Hawks remained a perennial postseason presence through the remainder of the first decade of the 21st century, but they did not advance past the second round of the playoffs during that time.
The team had a breakthrough season in 2014–15, winning a franchise-record 60 games and advancing to the Eastern Conference finals (where the Hawks lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers) for the first time since relocating to Atlanta. However, that proved to be a one-season turnaround as the Hawks returned to the pattern of having a second-round ceiling in 2015–16. The team lost many of its key players in the following offseason and limped to a 24-win season and last-place divisional finish in 2017–18.
The Hawks made a fateful decision in the 2018 draft when they initially selected future superstar Luka Dončić but immediately traded him for another prospect, Trae Young, an offensively gifted but undersized guard. That choice seemed sound in Young’s second year with the team, when he led the fifth-seeded Hawks on an unexpectedly deep playoff run, during which the team upset the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers before falling to the eventual champion, the Milwaukee Bucks, in the Eastern Conference finals.
But the early promise of the Young era in Atlanta has since been overshadowed by increasingly disappointing results, and the Hawks have struggled to build a well-rounded team around their star guard. They lost in the first round of the playoffs in 2022 and 2023 and failed to make the postseason entirely in 2024, the same year that Dončić—by now a perennial Most Valuable Player candidate—led the Dallas Mavericks to a berth in the NBA Finals.
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