The Atlanta Hawk will promote head coach Mike Budenholzer to president.
Hawks general manager Danny Ferry will have his contract bought out. Wes Wilcox will become the Hawks general manager. The moves aren’t official until the NBA’s Board of Governors approves the sale of the Hawks to Tony Ressler next week, according to Yahoo Sports. After the sale is approved, then Ressler will negotiate contracts with Budenholzer and Wilcox.
Budenholzer will continue to be the coach of the Hawks in addition to being the team’s president. This season he led the Hawks to a 60-22 record and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, according to Fox Sports. He was also named Coach of the Year. Budenholzer becomes one of five NBA coaches that have the title of coach and top basketball executive. Greg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs, Doc Rivers of the Los Angeles Clippers, Stan Van Gundy of the Detroit Pistons, and Flip Saunders of the Minnesota Timberwolves are the other coaches with both titles.
Ferry will be paid the balance of the three years that are left on his contract. He expects that he’ll be working in an NBA front office again soon.
It will be interesting to see how Budenholzer does as the Hawks coach and president.