Atlanta Hawks

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The team's origins can be traced to the establishment of the Buffalo Bisons in 1946 in Buffalo, New York, a member of the National Basketball League (NBL) owned by Ben Kerner and Leo Ferris. After 38 days in Buffalo, the team moved to Moline, Illinois, where they were renamed the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. In 1949, they joined the NBA as part of the merger between the NBL and the Basketball Association of America (BAA), and briefly had Red Auerbach as coach. In 1951, Kerner moved the team to Milwaukee, where they changed their name to the Milwaukee Hawks. Kerner and the team moved again in 1955 to St. Louis, where as the St. Louis Hawks they won their first (and thus far only) NBA Championship in 1958 and qualified to play in the NBA Finals in 1957, 1960 and 1961. The Hawks played the Boston Celtics in all four of their trips to the NBA Finals. The Hawks moved to Atlanta on May 3, 1968 and became the Atlanta Hawks, when Kerner sold the franchise to Thomas Cousins and former Georgia governor Carl Sanders. The ownership of the team includes billionaire James Cox Chambers.

In Their Own Story

The narrative of these two teams is defined by structural changes rather than a single defining series. In 1970, the league realigned into Eastern and Western Conferences with new divisions. The Atlanta Hawks moved from the Western Division to the Eastern Conference, while the Chicago Bulls had been placed in the Western Division upon their 1966 entry but eventually shifted east. By the time both teams were firmly established in the East, they competed for divisional supremacy. The 1980 realignment saw the Hawks and Bulls navigating shifts between the Midwest and Central Divisions, further intertwining their competitive schedules as the league expanded to include new franchises like the Dallas Mavericks and Charlotte Hornets.

Reader's Guide

The Hawks currently own the second-longest drought (behind the Sacramento Kings) of not winning an NBA championship at 67 seasons. The franchise's lone NBA championship, as well as all four NBA Finals appearances, occurred when the team was based in St. Louis. Meanwhile, they went 48 years without advancing past the second round of the playoffs in any format, until finally breaking through in 2015. The Hawks are one of only four NBA teams that have qualified to play in the NBA playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons in the 21st century. They achieved this feat between 2008 and 2017. In the 2024 NBA draft, the Atlanta Hawks selected Zaccharie Risacher with the first overall pick, their first since 1975.

Did You Know?

• The Hawks' origins trace back to the Buffalo Bisons, which lasted only 38 days in Buffalo before moving to Moline, Illinois.
• The Hawks won their only NBA championship in 1958 while based in St. Louis.
• The Hawks have the second-longest active championship drought in the NBA at 67 seasons.
• The Hawks made the playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons from 2008 to 2017.