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The Atlanta Hawks are finalizing an agreement with Kyle Korver to make him an assistant general manager, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Korver spent five seasons with the Hawks and appeared in 332 games for the team. Having retired after the 2019-20 season, he returned to Atlanta as the director of player affairs and development.
The organization is one month removed from a major change at the top.
The Hawks announced on Dec. 21 that Travis Schlenk was stepping down as president of basketball operations and assuming an advisory role. Landry Fields, who was only promoted to general manager in June, replaced Schlenk as the head of basketball operations.
According to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, the reshuffle reflected how Nick Ressler, the son of team governor Tony Ressler, has become a more influential figure behind the scenes:
“As I discussed on a December podcast visit with The Ringer, this reality that key Hawks figures were feeling undermined by Nick Ressler’s influence became a growing issue internally in recent months—specifically in relation to Trae Young —and had everything to do with Tony Ressler’s choice to overhaul the staff. The Dejounte Murray trade with San Antonio was the beginning of the end, as sources say it went down despite Schlenk expressing his concerns about the price being paid (three first-rounders, a first-round pick swap and Danilo Gallinari) and with Nick Ressler known to be a driving force behind the deal.”
Things haven’t gone according to plan for the Hawks, who are 19-22 and ninth in the Eastern Conference. They’ve seen their biggest star, Trae Young, in the middle of internal turmoil, and head coach Nate McMillan had to address rumors he could step down in the middle of the season.
That’s to say nothing of how Schlenk did well to move the franchise forward but assembled a flawed roster with limited financial flexibility in the near future. Reaching the 2021 conference finals is looking more and more like a mirage, one that simultaneously raised expectations to an unattainable degree.
Now that he has become a bigger part of the front office, Korver will have to help Fields navigate through a difficult situation.