The 2020–21 Atlanta Hawks season was the 72nd season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the 53rd in Atlanta. On March 1, 2021, head coach Lloyd Pierce was fired after a 14–20 start^[1] and replaced by Nate McMillan, who would serve out the remainder of the year as interim head coach. On May 12, the Hawks clinched their first playoff appearance since 2017, ending their four-year playoff drought. On May 15, The Hawks clinched their first Southeast Division title since 2014–15 when the Miami Heat lost to the Milwaukee Bucks 122–108.

The Hawks surprised many on their playoff run as they went on to defeat the fourth seeded New York Knicks in five games in the first round.^[2] Then in a major upset, the Hawks defeated the top seeded Philadelphia 76ers in seven games in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals; two of their victories involved coming back from large deficits. They advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2015.^[3] However, their run would come to an end as they lost in six games to the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals, coached by former Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer, who had led them to the Eastern Conference finals in 2015.^[4] The team is similar to the 1977–78 Seattle SuperSonics, as both teams struggled early on, made a coaching change, got a better record to surge up the standings, and had an unexpectedly deep playoff run.^[5]

Draft picks

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	School/Club team
1	6	Onyeka Okongwu	PF	United States	USC
2	50	Skylar Mays	PG	United States	LSU

Roster

2020–21 Atlanta Hawks roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From G 13 Bogdanović, Bogdan 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1992-08-18 Serbia C 15 Capela, Clint 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1994-05-18 Switzerland F/C 20 Collins, John 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1997-09-23 Wake Forest G 32 Dunn, Kris  6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1994-03-18 Providence F/C 24 Fernando, Bruno 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1998-08-15 Maryland F 8 Gallinari, Danilo 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 233 lb (106 kg) 1988-08-08 Italy G 0 Goodwin, Brandon  6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1995-10-02 Florida Gulf Coast F 18 Hill, Solomon 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 226 lb (103 kg) 1991-03-18 Arizona G/F 3 Huerter, Kevin 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1998-08-27 Maryland G/F 12 Hunter, De'Andre 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1997-12-02 Virginia F/C 1 Knight, Nathan (TW) 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 253 lb (115 kg) 1997-09-20 William & Mary G 4 Mays, Skylar (TW) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1997-09-05 LSU F/C 17 Okongwu, Onyeka 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 2000-12-11 USC G/F 22 Reddish, Cam  6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 218 lb (99 kg) 1999-09-01 Duke G 19 Snell, Tony 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 213 lb (97 kg) 1991-11-10 New Mexico G 6 Williams, Lou 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1986-10-27 South Gwinnett HS (GA) G 11 Young, Trae 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1998-09-19 Oklahoma

Head coach Nate McMillan Assistant coach(es) Marlon Garnett Matt Hill Melvin Hunt Chris Jent Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended (GL) On assignment to G League affiliate (TW) Two-way affiliate player Injured Roster Last transaction: March 25, 2021

Standings

Division

Conference

Notes

• z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
• c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
• y – Clinched division title
• x – Clinched playoff spot
• pb – Clinched play-in spot
• o – Eliminated from playoff contention
• * – Division leader

Game log

Preseason

Regular season