The Hawks season ended last Saturday (AEDT).
MORE: NBA playoffs: Klay Thompson not worried about Utah nightlife: 'Only boring people get bored'
A week after after their 115-99 loss at home to the Wizards in Game 6 of the first round of the playoffs, the team announced GM Wes Wilcox has resigned.
As part of a restructing of its basketball operations group, coach Mike Budenholzer will step down from his position as team president. Wilcox will remain with the team as a special adviser to the ownership group. The 2014-15 coach of the Year, Budenholzer, a disciple of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, has gone 189-139 and reached the playoffs all four years he's been at the helm.
Wilcox replaced former Hawks GM Danny Ferry, whose derogatory comments about African-born player Luol Deng in 2014 led to the discovery of similar evidence by then owner Bruce Levenson in a 2012 email. Ultimately, the team was sold.
Last month, Hawks owner Tony Ressler emphatically stated there would be no front office changes and that coach and team president Mike Budenholzer's position was safe, in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article.
After a series of internal discussions, according to release sent out by the Hawks, those sentiments changed.
“As we have said from the beginning, we are committed to building the Atlanta Hawks into a championship-caliber team, and after the end of our season, it was clear to all of us that our basketball operations leadership needed this reorganization,” Ressler said. “With Bud moving his focus exclusively to his position as head coach, we are freeing him up to do what he does best as one of the most respected coaches in the NBA. As owners, we value Wes’ dedication, intellect and capabilities, however we believe that our leadership would be best served by recruiting a new general manager to bring our team to the level of play that we expect.”
The team will use an executive search firm to help fine a new GM.