Sharife Cooper made a go-ahead, 3-pointer just before the buzzer that lifted the Atlanta Hawks to an 84-83 win over the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Summer League on Tuesday night.

Nate McMillan’s deal as full-time coach of the Atlanta Hawks has been made official.

The Atlanta Hawks have reached an agreement with interim coach Nate McMillan for him to accept the job full time after leading the team to an improbable run to the Eastern Conference finals.

John Collins is set to play a key role for the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference finals.

The Atlanta Hawks spent three miserable years totally rebuilding their team, all with the idea of finally making a big move this season.

(AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, Pool, File)ATLANTA – Atlanta Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce was fired less than halfway into a season that began with heightened expectations but was beset by injuries. The Hawks are 14-20 and 11th in the Eastern Conference, following a 109-99 loss at Miami on Sunday night. AdMcMillan filled in for Pierce when Pierce was recently away from the team while his wife was giving birth. This was supposed to be the season the Hawks returned to the playoffs, and Pierce acknowledged before the season it was time to win. Pierce, hired in 2018, was 63-120 (.344) with the Hawks, missing the playoffs in each of his two completed seasons.

(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)Golden State coach Steve Kerr was supposed to be in Tokyo for the Olympics this summer. Then again, Kerr isn't certain if he or anyone else from the NBA will be there at all. FIBA pushed back the dates for the four remaining qualifying tournaments to June 29 through July 4, 2021, meaning they would end 19 days before the rescheduled start of the delayed Tokyo Olympics. Toronto coach Nick Nurse is scheduled to coach Canada in that qualifying tournament and, he hopes, the Olympics. Nurse, Popovich and Kerr surely arent the only coaches wondering on this point.

The league and the players know they must go above and beyond in the interest of safety. The rough very rough draft of the NBA calendar suggests next season will start Dec. 1. Meanwhile, the 2020 NBA finalists arent even slated to get nine weeks off before next season starts. The Warriors Klay Thompson last played a year ago, when he tore his ACL in the NBA Finals. But for the players who play deep into this season, then play deep into next season, thats a lot of basketball without a lot of time off.