1993–94 Atlanta Hawks season

The 1993–94 NBA season was the 45th season for the Atlanta Hawks in the National Basketball Association, and their 26th season in Atlanta, Georgia. During the off-season, the Hawks hired Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens as their new head coach; Wilkens was a star guard for the franchise when it was based in St. Louis, Missouri in the 1960s, and was quickly moving up the all-time coaching wins list after successful runs with the Seattle SuperSonics and Cleveland Cavaliers. The team also signed free agents Craig Ehlo, and Andrew Lang.

The Hawks got off to a slow start by losing four of their first five games of the regular season, but then posted a 14-game winning streak between November and December, which led to a 15–4 start to the season, and held a 34–13 record at the All-Star break. Despite being in first place in the East, the team traded All-Star forward Dominique Wilkins to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for All-Star forward Danny Manning; Wilkins averaged 24.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game in 49 games before the trade. The Hawks won seven of their final ten games of the season, and finished in first place in the Central Division with a 57–25 record, earning the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference; they also posted a successful 36–5 home record at the Omni Coliseum.

Kevin Willis led the team with 19.1 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, while Manning averaged 15.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game in 26 games with the Hawks after the trade, Stacey Augmon averaged 14.8 points and 1.8 steals per game, and Mookie Blaylock provided the team with 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 9.7 assists and 2.6 steals per game, led them with 114 three-point field goals, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. In addition, Ehlo played a sixth man role off the bench, averaging 10.0 points and 1.7 steals per game, while also off the bench, Duane Ferrell contributed 7.1 points per game, Lang provided with 6.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game, and starting center Jon Koncak averaged 4.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.

Before the mid-season trade, Wilkins and Blaylock were both selected for the 1994 NBA All-Star Game in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with Lenny Wilkens coaching the Eastern Conference. Wilkens was also named the NBA Coach of the Year, after leading the Hawks to a 14-win improvement over the previous season, while Willis and Blaylock both finished tied in eleventh place in Most Valuable Player voting; Blaylock also finished tied in seventh place in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and tied in fourth place in Most Improved Player voting, and Ehlo finished in third place in Sixth Man of the Year voting.

In the 1994 NBA playoffs, the Hawks trailed 2–1 to the 8th-seeded Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference First Round, but managed to win the series in five games. However, they lost in six games to the 5th-seeded Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals.

The Hawks finished 22nd in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 537,547 at the Omni Coliseum during the regular season. Following the season, Manning signed as a free agent with the Phoenix Suns after only half a season with the Hawks, while Ferrell signed with the Indiana Pacers, and second-year forward Adam Keefe was traded to the Utah Jazz.