The 2010s: Hawks all-decade team draws heavily from 60-win team in 2014-15
Emma Valentine
Published Apr 06, 2026
The past 10 years showcased some of the most consistent success the Hawks have experienced since moving to Atlanta. They made the playoffs three straight seasons before the decade started, and their success continued into the 2010s. Atlanta made the playoffs for seven straight seasons from 2010 to 2016, won a franchise-record 60 games and made the Eastern Conference finals in 2014-15 before beginning a rebuilding process starting in 2017.
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The Hawks won 40 games or more six times in the decade but only advanced past the first round of the playoffs three times. This season is viewed as potentially the last in what would be a three-year rebuilding process, one that cut the last remaining tie to the Hawks’ most successful season since moving to Atlanta when it traded Kent Bazemore to Portland during the summer.
As Atlanta continues to work out of its rebuilding stage and back to being a perennial lock for the playoffs, now is the time to talk about the best players who helped shape the past 10 years for the Hawks.
Starters
Point guard: Jeff Teague
Teague was one of the league’s most improved players when he became the Hawks’ starting point guard in 2011-12. He went from averaging just more than five points per game to 12.6 points per game when he started all 66 games in the shortened 2011-12 season. He finished eighth in in steals. During the next four seasons, Teague remained consistent, was an instrumental piece in 2014-15 and was named an All-Star. He finished that season averaging almost 16 points, seven assists and nearly two steals per game. In the playoffs against Washington, Teague finished with 26 points and eight assists in Game 4 and helped lead the Hawks to tie the series at 2. In the clinching Game 6, Teague scored 20 points and had seven assists, including two in the final minute that wrapped up a 94-91 win after Paul Pierce’s tying 3 was waved off. With the emergence of Dennis Schröder, Teague’s minutes took a slight hit the following season and he was traded to Indiana in 2016. Teague was one of the most reliable Hawks players of the decade and scored the most points, and he is no doubt the starting point guard for the Hawks’ all-decade team.
Shooting guard: Kyle Korver
The most accurate 3-point shooter to wear a Hawks jersey, Korver leads the franchise in 3-point percentage, free throw percentage, effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage. When Korver was open in the corner or off a screen, his shots likely went in. Korver made 45 percent of his 3-point attempts in his five seasons with Atlanta. Chicago traded him to the Hawks in summer 2012 for cash considerations, and it turned out to be one of the best trades the Hawks have made. Korver decided to re-sign with Atlanta in 2013 on a four-year deal and was named an All-Star in 2014-15, when he made 49 percent of his 3-point attempts.
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Small forward: Joe Johnson
This was the hardest selection to make on the first team because while Johnson is one of the best Hawks players of all time, he only played in the first two seasons of the decade before he was traded to Brooklyn. He averaged more than 18 points per game and was named an All-Star in each of those seasons. Yes, the six-year, $124 million contract he signed in summer 2010 was absurd, and the Hawks were lucky they got out of the contract before his production took a major hit. But even playing only two seasons, Johnson still ranks inside the top 10 in scoring, 3-pointers, assists and minutes played. Johnson was not the same player he was in the 2000s, but he still was productive.
Power forward: Paul Millsap
A four-time All-Star and a second-team All-Defensive Team selection in 2015, Millsap was a no-brainer to be one of the starters for the Hawks’ all-decade team. He’s third in points, second in rebounds, second in steals, fourth in assists, third in blocks and sixth in 3-pointers made, making him one of the most productive Hawks players of the decade. The Hawks didn’t offer Millsap another contract after his fourth and final season with Atlanta because they decided they wanted to get younger and go full into rebuild mode.
Center: Al Horford
Horford didn’t have the most gracious return to Atlanta after he left for Boston in free agency because the Hawks didn’t offer him a five-year, maximum contract like he wanted. The Celtics offered him a four-year maximum contract, the most they could offer, so he left. Many Hawks fans booed Horford in his first game back in Atlanta, which was a shame because he’s undoubtedly one of the best players to play for the franchise and has a case to have his number retired. In the past decade, Horford ranks in the top five in points, rebounds, blocks, assists, steals and games played for the franchise. Horford was a three-time All-Star with the Hawks and was an All-NBA third-team selection in 2010.
Bench
Josh Smith
One of the most polarizing players to ever wear a Hawks jersey, Smith was a highlight-making machine in his early days in Atlanta. Smith became the youngest player to record 500 and 1,000 blocks and was name to the All-Defensive second team in 2010. Smith had a propensity to jack up 3-pointers, but he was highly inefficient when he shot them and finished his career shooting below 30 percent from 3. But in his three seasons with the Hawks during the decade, Smith will finish in the top 10 in total points, rebounds, blocks, assists and steals.
Collins is in his third season with the Hawks and looks destined to be one of their fixtures in the coming decade. In Collins’ rookie season, he showed flashes of what he could be if given more opportunity, and he showed that last season when he nearly averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds per game with great efficiency. He hasn’t slowed down and has shown immense improvement on defense. If Collins keeps up his efficiency and numbers, he’ll have a strong case to make his first All-Star Game in February.
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Dennis Schröder
Schröder emerged as the sixth man in the Hawks’ 60-win season, his second in the league, and cut into Teague’s minutes. Schröder became the Hawks’ starting point guard in 2016-17, the last in which the Hawks made the playoffs. The following season, there was dissension between head coach Mike Budenholzer, who had no desire to tank, and the front office, which wanted a full rebuild. Schröder averaged nearly 20 points and six assists per game that season as he became the Hawks’ focal point. He asked for a trade the following summer because he no longer wanted to play for a team that was rebuilding. Schröder’s time with Atlanta was up and down, and it is clear from talking with some of his former teammates that he wasn’t particularly well liked, but there’s no denying the numbers he put up in his five seasons with the Hawks.
Kent Bazemore
Bazemore became a full-time starter for the Hawks after the 60-win season and remained one until Kevin Huerter took his spot in the starting rotation last season. It was clear the Hawks were trying to go in a different direction and Bazemore wasn’t a part of the team’s plans. But in his five seasons with the Hawks, Bazemore was one of the best locker room personalities. He developed from a bench player in his first season to one of the most respected voices in the locker room. Huerter credited a lot of his growth last season to Bazemore, who would do anything he could to help Huerter understand different matchups and how to break down film. When healthy, Bazemore was a valuable two-way player for the Hawks, and he was heading for the best season of his career in 2018-19 before an ankle injury. He ranks in the top 10 in the decade for the Hawks in points, rebounds, steals, assists, blocks and 3-pointers.
Young’s selection certainly has some recency bias, but there aren’t many other options to strongly consider. You could make the case for DeMarre Carroll’s two seasons or Lou Williams, who won the Sixth Man of the Year Award, but from a team perspective, they didn’t make the players around them better as Young did in his rookie season. He finished second in the Rookie of the Year race, but he elevated the performances of the Hawks’ supporting cast and turned Collins into a menace in the pick and roll. In just one season, Young is already creeping into the top 10 in points, assists and 3-point field goals made. In just one season, Young has turned the Hawks into must-see television. He has the potential to be the first legitimate superstar for the Hawks since Dominique Wilkins.
(Photo of Smith in the 2013 NBA Playoffs: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
