Philadelphia 76ers executive Elton Brand is expected to be among the candidates for the Atlanta Hawks’ president of basketball operations job, per Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line.
The Hawks fired general manager Landry Fields on Monday, promoting assistant GM Onsi Saleh to the position as the search for a top executive begins. Saleh will handle day-to-day basketball operations duties in the meantime, the team announced.
Brand, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft, has been in the Sixers’ front office in one capacity or another since 2016. He served as the primary basketball decision-maker from 2018-2020, before Philadelphia hired top exec Daryl Morey to replace him. Brand retained his GM role after Morey was hired.
The Hawks’ season ended on Friday, when they lost a home play-in tournament game to the Miami Heat. They finished 40-42 and in eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings (before the play-in tourney).
Fields, a former NBA guard, was hired as assistant GM with the Hawks in 2020, before landing the GM job in 2022. His biog trade of the season was sending forward De’Andre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers for forward Georges Niang and guard Caris LeVert — who is entering free agency this summer.
Without Fields, it remains to be seen what will become of coach Quin Snyder and team star Trae Young, generally at the center of NBA trade rumors. That is sure to be the case again.
Young indicated during the team’s exit interviews that he hoped to remain in Atlanta.
“Yeah, of course,” he said. “We’re one of the 30 NBA teams and I feel like you can win here. I’ve won before here — I haven’t won a championship, but I’ve achieved a lot of things here and I know what it takes. I definitely feel like I can win.”
Looking for the latest NBA Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow Hoops Wire on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NBA News and Rumors for all 30 teams!
