Mike Budenholzer still doesn’t have his next gig locked down, but the Atlanta Hawks have officially moved on from their former head coach. The team announced late Friday that Philadelphia 76ers assistant Lloyd Pierce will be the next coach of the Hawks.
Pierce interviewed with Atlanta earlier in the week after Budenholzer and the Hawks “mutually agreed to part ways,” which is a nice way of saying that Bud didn’t want to coach the Hawks anymore.
That put both parties on the coaching search. But it was reported on Friday that Pierce was the man for the job, and the Hawks didn’t waste any time in making that official later that night.
OFFICIAL: We have reached an agreement in principle with Lloyd Pierce to become our new head coach!#TrueToAtlanta pic.twitter.com/ANAkXMI5ht
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) May 11, 2018
ESPN’s Marc J. Spears first reported the deal. Adrian Wojnarowski also reported that Pierce would sign a three-year deal for the coaching gig, which was first supposed to be announced early next week.
Pierce’s deal with Hawks is three years guaranteed, plus a team option for a fourth, league source tells ESPN. https://t.co/QQbCRSCpPp
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 11, 2018
Pierce got rave reviews from everyone in Philadelphia, and it seemed inevitable that he would get a head coaching gig somewhere soon. Budenholzer, meanwhile, was reportedly the Knicks’ top choice before they picked David Fizdale. He’s on the list for the head coaching job in Milwaukee, too, and Friday’s firing of Dwane Casey in Toronto opened up another potential landing spot. Budenholzer will find somewhere to coach this fall, but Atlanta seems ready for a new era as well.
