ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Hawks have named longtime Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer as head coach.
General manager Danny Ferry called on his past experience with the Spurs to select Budenholzer (pronounced BEW-den-holzer) on Tuesday to replace Larry Drew as coach. Drew’s contract expires in June following three seasons as coach.
Budenholzer spent the last 17 seasons as an assistant with the Spurts, including the last six years as the top assistant for coach Gregg Popovich.
The Hawks say Budenholzer will continue serving as the Spurs top assistant until the conclusion of the NBA finals. The Spurs completed a four-game sweep of Memphis in the Western Conference finals on Monday.
Ferry came to the Hawks last year after two years as vice president of basketball operations for the Spurs.
