Atlanta Hawks gave Steve Koonin three-year contract over summer, per report

The Atlanta Hawks had a busy summer but one of their biggest moves moved went unannounced. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Chris Vivlamore reports that the franchise agreed to a three-year contract with CEO Steve Koonin.

Koonin’s original contract was with the previous ownership group after he joined the organization in April of 2014. The new contract is with the present ownership group, with principal owner Tony Ressler who purchased the team in June 2015.

If anyone deserved a contract extension it was Koonin who expertly guided the Hawks through the Bruce Levenson/Danny Ferry controversy in 2015. Those events eventually paved the way for a new ownership group that elected to keep Koonin and the basketball operations people in place.

New ownership deserves credit for getting that right. Many times a change at the top warrants changes throughout a franchise. Tony Ressler’s group didn’t just stick with Koonin and Mike Budenholzer, they have given them the additional tools that they need to succeed at their jobs.