The Atlanta Hawks have hired former ESPN senior NBA writer Tim Bontemps as a strategic adviser to the front office, the team announced on July 8, 2026.
Bontemps will report directly to Onsi Saleh, the Hawks' president of basketball operations.
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His recent work at ESPN focused on league trends, player movement, and team strategy. He also co-hosted "The Hoop Collective" podcast, known for its blunt analysis.
Bontemps joined ESPN in 2018 and spent years covering the Eastern Conference. Before ESPN, he was a national NBA writer for The Washington Post for three years.
He began his media career in 2007 at the New York Post after graduating from St. Bonaventure.
The New York Post promoted him in 2012 to cover the Brooklyn Nets as a beat writer, a role he held for three years.
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The front office addition comes after the Hawks finished the 2025-26 season with a 46-36 record.
They lost in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual champion New York Knicks.
This past season was Saleh's first as the franchise's lead basketball executive.
He made several roster changes, including a midseason trade that sent four-time All-Star Trae Young to the Washington Wizards for C.
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J. McCollum and Corey Kispert.
