The Atlanta Hawks fired coach Nate McMillan on Tuesday, the team announced.
The Hawks are just below .500 at 29-30 at the All-Star break and eighth in the Eastern Conference, in a play-in spot.
“Decisions like these, especially in-season, are always extremely difficult, but we believe it’s in the best interest of our team to move forward with another voice leading the way,” general manager Landry Fields said in a statement.
McMillan was 99-80 in three seasons as the Hawks’ coach, including a 27-11 record as interim in the second half of the 2020-21 season, but was unable to follow up on the success of leading the team to the 2021 Eastern Conference finals.
Joe Prunty, who joined the Hawks in July 2021 as lead assistant, will be the interim coach. Prunty was 21-16 as the Milwaukee Bucks‘ interim coach in 2018. Milwaukee lost in seven games to the Boston Celtics in the opening round of the playoffs.
The Hawks are starting a search for a new head coach immediately, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, targeting player development, accountability, and getting the Hawks’ offense and defense into the league’s top 10.
The Hawks are planning a wide-ranging search, but one candidate expected to be at the top of the list is former Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder, sources said. Others expected to be considered include Bucks assistant Charles Lee and Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson.
The Hawks finished 43-39 in the 2021-22 season, and after escaping the play-in tournament, lost to the Miami Heat 4-1 in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Atlanta then added more emphasis to a win-now approach by trading Danilo Gallinari and three first-round picks to the San Antonio Spurs for All-Star guard Dejounte Murray.
The trade formed a backcourt pairing of All-Star guards in Murray and Trae Young and placed more heat on McMillan to guide the Hawks back to the top of the conference.
Instead, the Hawks have struggled near .500 most of the season. They lost four of six games before the All-Star break and are only one game ahead of 10th-place Toronto in the East. The slide left Atlanta closer to falling out of the play-in tournament than moving into the No. 6 spot for a guaranteed playoff position. The New York Knicks are sixth, 3 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta.
Overall in 19 seasons, McMillan has a 760-668 record with the Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Trail Blazers, Indiana Pacers and Hawks.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.