Atlanta Hawks

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 Georgia Dome in November, the air thick with humidity even under the roof. A Hawks home game, the crowd a sea of red and white. Wilkins catches a lob at the elbow, rises with that slow, coiled power, and slams it through the rim so hard the stanchion shudders. The crowd roars. On the other end, Miller picks up the ball at the top of the key, draws two defenders, and fires a three from the left wing that swishes with a sound like a pistol crack. The Pacers bench leaps to its feet. The Hawks bench is silent. This is the rhythm of the rivalry: no quarter, no mercy, just two teams who refuse to let the other breathe. Four quarters of elbows, of screens set a half-second too late, of a ref's whistle that satisfies nobody. By the final two minutes, the score is tied, the arena is deafening, and both teams know this game will be remembered long after the stats fade into the season's noise.

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, who played only 38 days in Buffalo before moving to Moline, Illinois.
• The franchise's only NBA championship was won in 1958 when the team was based in St. Louis.
• The Hawks have appeared in the NBA Finals four times, all against the Boston Celtics.
• The team moved to Atlanta on May 3, 1968, after being sold to Thomas Cousins and Carl Sanders.