After the Atlanta Hawks entered the 2023 NBA All-Star break with a disappointing 29-30 record, the team’s front office made a move fans have been calling for since long before the turn of the calendar year: parting with head coach and NC State alumnus Nate McMillan.
Expectations in Atlanta have been high all season after the team had a very active offseason that included pairing All-Star guard Dejounte Murray with All-NBA guard Trae Young. The constant purgatory of being within two games above or below .500 has been nothing short of exhausting, which ultimately led to McMillan’s firing.
With the former NC State guard’s future in the league up in the air, what better time than now to look back on the storied career of “Mr. Sonic.”
Playing Career
Born in Raleigh, McMillan attended Enloe High School but was overlooked by most college recruiters. After completing two years at Chowan College, McMillan went to play for Jim Valvano and NC State. With McMillan on the roster, the Pack tied for the best record in the ACC in 1985 and had back-to-back Elite Eight appearances in 1985 and 1986.
McMillan was the 30th pick in the 1986 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics (current day Oklahoma City Thunder) and would spend his entire playing career in Seattle, retiring in 1998. He built a career off of being a defensive menace, earning back-to-back NBA All-Defensive Second Team honors in 1994 and 1995 and was the leader in steals in the ‘94 season with three steals per game.
In the final year of McMillan’s playing career, the Sonics reached the NBA Finals, where they fell to the historically-unstoppable Chicago Bulls in six games.
McMillan averaged 5.9 points, 6.1 assists and 1.9 steals per game throughout his career. He currently shares the rookie record for assists in a single game with 25 and had four career triple-doubles. His number 10 jersey was retired by the SuperSonics and honored by the Wolfpack.
Coaching Career
McMillan returned to the Sonics as an assistant coach the first season following his retirement, and after then-head coach Paul Westphal was fired during the 2000 season, McMillan was promoted to interim coach. The Sonics missed the playoffs, but a 38-29 record under McMillan was a building block for the future.
The team hung around mediocrity the next two seasons before exploding to a 52-30 record in 2004-05 season, which ended with a second-round loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
McMillan left Seattle the following season to pursue a job with the Portland Trail Blazers, who were littered with off-court drama and were in cap hell, but McMillan progressively improved the team. Following a horrid 21-61 record in 2005-06, Portland increased its win total for three consecutive seasons, managing 48 wins or more from 2009 to 2011. Portland made the playoffs all three of those seasons, but each time exited the first round in six games, and McMillan’s stint with the Blazers ended in 2012 following a disappointing 20-23 start to the season.
After a year out of coaching, the Indiana Pacers brought in McMillan to be an assistant coach. He remained an assistant in Indiana until the 2016 season when he was promoted to head coach.
Things were rocky in Indiana, however, as All-Star guard Paul George was traded to Oklahoma City in 2017, but McMillan was accustomed to chaos and still managed to take the Pacers to the playoffs in all four seasons as their coach. However, he never left the first round and was swept in three of those series, which led to his firing in August 2020.
A few months later, McMillan took another assistant job in Atlanta. Under head coach Lloyd Pierce, the Hawks were dead men walking very early, posting a 14-20 record to start the season. The front office had seen enough, and after firing Pierce, the team promoted McMillan to an interim position, which became permanent during the offseason. McMillan immediately beat the defending conference champion Miami Heat to kick off an eight-game winning streak. Funny enough, the last game of that win streak was against the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.
McMillan closed the Hawks out with a 27-11 record in which the Hawks landed the fifth seed in the East and a playoff run that saw Atlanta lose in the conference finals. McMillan’s squad carried high expectations into the following seasons, but an injury-riddled 2021-22 campaign saw the Hawks limp into the playoffs as the ninth seed. A quick five-game dismantling against the Heat led to the Murray trade, and here Atlanta sits now.
Throughout his career, McMillan has won two Olympic gold medals (2008, 2012), one FIBA Americas Championship Gold medal (2007) and a FIBA World Championship bronze medal (2006). McMillan was also an assistant on Mike Krzyzewski’s staff for these teams.
What’s Next?
McMillan has accomplished a lot in his time as both a player and a coach, but his style is dated. His defensive prowess translated well during most of his transitional years as a coach, which is why he would find so much success during the interim years with Seattle and Atlanta (64-41). His halfcourt offense is troubling, to say the least. When you have one of the best on-paper backcourts in basketball but can’t run basic offense outside of pick and rolls from 30 feet away from the basket, it gets hard to score.
McMillan sits at a 764-671, 53.2%, regular season record over his coaching career with a 31-48, 39.2% playoff record. His falling out with Atlanta was met with rumors of retirement, so it is not too outlandish to say he’s calling it quits. Both as a player and a coach, McMillan has had a storied career and should be very proud with all he contributed to the game of basketball.
