After nine months, which included a national broadcast from the feed of Trae Young’s iPhone playing HORSE in his backyard; four months of bubble basketball and hockey at the same time of a condensed WNBA and MLB season; a week of mini-camp; a week of pre and post-draft interviews; and a week of training camp Zooms — the Atlanta Hawks finally played a basketball game on Dec. 11.
With nine months of anticipation sitting on his shoulders as he addressed a Zoom call with local media members, Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce gave his first opening statement of the season.