The Atlanta Hawks made a front office move on Monday, promoting assistant GM Landry Fields to general manager.
Fields, 33, has had a meteoric rise as an executive since his playing career ended following the 2015-16 season.
He began as a scout with the San Antonio Spurs in 2016 before becoming general manager of the team’s G-League affiliate three years later.
Fields then went on to Atlanta, where he is now team president Travis Schlenk’s right-hand man. Not bad for a former second-round pick who played five NBA seasons and is still younger than some of the guys who will be playing n Game 5 of the NBA Finals tonight.
The NBA world seems to be collectively happy for Fields, while also being stunned that he has already worked himself into the position he’s in.
Now that his new title is out of the way, this is going to be a busy summer for Fields and the Hawks. Atlanta went from making the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021 to having to advance out of the play-in tournament this year.
The Hawks eventually lost to the Miami Heat in five games in the first round of the playoffs. A bounce back season is the goal in 2022-23.