Nate

McMillan

The Lakers have surrounded JJ Redick with two former head coaches that have plenty of experience, which should hopefully help things go smoothly. Brooks has been an assistant in Portland the last few seasons, while McMillan’s last job was as the head coach of Atlanta up until he was fired in February of 2023. This is a strong coaching staff, and now it is on Redick to make it all work together.

Per the report, McMillan’s status first came into question after he disagreed with Trae Young during a pregame shootaround before a December 2 game against the Nuggets. Not only would a then-injured Young not play in the game, but he was not with the team during it. The Hawks have been disappointing this season, and team ownership recently restructured the front office.

Koonin disputed the report during an appearance on the “Dukes and Bell” radio show on 92.9 The Game in Atlanta, calling the report by Shams Charania of The Athletic “made up stuff.” The Hawks are currently 17-18 and in 9th place in the East, but they’re just one game out of 6th in the loss column. Injuries haven’t helped matters, but there’s no denying that more was expected of the Hawks as the season approached its halfway point.

The Hawks went 1-3 without McMillan on the sidelines and surrendered 130 points twice. But in the three games prior, they had allowed at least 120 points in all of them and more than 130 twice. Those games included a lot of players in protocols, so this could be the first time that the Hawks are playing where they’re truly healthy since November 27th, or November 8th if you factor in the De’Andre Hunter wrist injury.

Conti also noted that Schlenk didn’t specify whether the positive tests were players, coaches, or other staff members. Still, the Hawks have been hit hard by COVID, with 10 players in protocols now. They just got Trae Young and Clint Capela back from quarantine. We’ll see who doesn’t practice today. The Hawks play Chicago again on Wednesday.

Jamelle McMillan is a member of the Hawks coaching staff, and as of Wednesday has entered the leagues health and safety protocols. McMillan says that he will quarantine until he can return a series of negative COVID-19 tests. McMillan currently has 699 career wins, and even if Chris Jent, who will serve as head coach while McMillan is out, wins, McMillan will still be credited with his 700th career win.

“We have an agreement in place in principle with Nate,” Hawks GM Travis Schlenk said. “We’re just drawing up the contract.” This was a no-brainer for the Hawks after McMillan guided them to the Eastern Conference Finals after Lloyd Pierce was let go. This already has us excited about a bounce-back fantasy season for Cam Reddish, as McMillan is his biggest supporter and compared him to Paul George.

It has become clear that the Atlanta front office wants to bring McMillan back in a permanent role as head coach after the turnaround that McMillan engineered to guide the Hawks to a 27-11 record over the last 38 games of the regular season. After guiding the Hawks on a magical run to the Eastern Conference finals, McMillan has more than proved that he is worth the job if he wants it, which according to Woelful, still remains to be seen. While it is also unclear exactly what McMillan is looking for, sources say that money will not be a factor in McMillan’s decision as he is “financially stable.”

McMillan, who was formerly the team’s assistant coach, will replace Lloyd Pierce, who was let go earlier on Monday. He has head-coached the Supersonics and Pacers for a combined nine years prior to taking this role.

It didn’t take long for McMillan to find his next gig after being let go by Indiana back in August, but it could be another few years before he finds himself in a head coaching role again. He’s a good defensive coach, but his offensive schemes haven’t always been that imaginative.