The Atlanta Hawks franchise launched with the 1949-50 season, beginning in the Tri-Cities before trips to Milwaukee, St. Louis and, eventually, Atlanta. As such, a lot of players have come through the organization, but very few have captured the imagination to the degree of Trae Young.
Young has been Atlanta's franchise player since he was drafted in 2018, and he has the distinction of leading the Hawks to their best playoff run (in 2021) since the team moved to Atlanta. With that as the backdrop, the aim here is to highlight the five best point guards in Hawks history, taking longevity into account and attempting to paint an accurate picture of impact.
Honorable mentions would include Jason Terry and Spud Webb, but here is the top five.
5) Jeff Teague
Jeff Teague is one of the breakout media stars of the last few years, earning renown for his storytelling brilliance in podcast form. Before that, he was a very good NBA point guard.
Teague spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Hawks, including six as the full-time starter at point guard. Over a three-season span from 2013-2016, he averaged 16.0 points and 6.5 assists per game, and Teague earned an All-Star nod as the point guard of the 2014-15 team that won 60 games. If anything, Teague might be underrated at this point.
4) Doc Rivers
Until Trae Young arrived, there was a good case for Doc Rivers as the best passing point guard in Hawks history. He averaged nearly 10 assists per game over a two-season span in the late 1980s, and Rivers was an All-Star in 1987-88. He was also a standout defender at the guard spot, and Rivers held the franchise record for career assists until it was broken by Young.
Rivers is now much better known for his coaching and announcing work after retirement, but he was a very effective player for eight years in Atlanta.
3) Mookie Blaylock
Blaylock was one of the best defensive guards in the NBA for the duration of his time in Atlanta. In seven seasons with the Hawks, Blaylock averaged a whopping 2.6 steals per game, and he earned All-Defensive team honors on six occasions.
Defense was certainly his calling card, but Blaylock also averaged 14.9 points and 7.3 assists per game as a Hawk. That included the 1993-94 season in which he finished 11th in NBA MVP voting while averaging nearly 10 assists per game.
2) Lenny Wilkens
To a more modern generation, Wilkens is better known to Hawks fans as the team's head coach from 1993-2000. He captained a number of strong teams, and Wilkens is one of the most decorated coaches in NBA history. Before that, though, he was a standout guard who spent the first eight seasons of his career in St. Louis with the Hawks.
Wilkens is actually in the top 10 in Hawks history in minutes played, and he averaged 15.5 points and 5.5 assists per game in his eight seasons. That peaked with a six-season run that featured five All-Star appearances from 1963-1968.
1) Trae Young
Trae Young is only 26 years old, but he has seven high-end NBA seasons under his belt, and this is an easy call. Young is already the Hawks franchise career record holder in total assists, assists per game, assist percentage, and 3-point field goals. He is also No. 3 in franchise history in points per game, trailing only a pair of Hall of Fame players in Dominique Wilkins and Bob Pettit.
It would be fair to note that Young hasn't quite reached the lofty heights of Wilkins or (especially) Pettit. Still, there is not another point guard in his stratosphere on a per-season basis, and Young has already played more than 500 games in a Hawks uniform when including the postseason. If he stays for the next few years or more, he has a clear path to being firmly in the top three among Hawks franchise icons, if he isn't already there.