The 2018–19 Atlanta Hawks season was the team's 69th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association and the 51st in Atlanta. On April 25, 2018, the Hawks and Mike Budenholzer mutually agreed to part ways. On May 11, 2018, the Hawks hired Lloyd Pierce as head coach. Four days later, the Hawks won the #3 pick in the 2018 NBA draft, as well as enter draft night with four total draft picks over a month later in June. During the offseason, the Hawks signed veteran Vince Carter, the 8th team he has played for in his 21-year career. Carter signed with the Hawks despite massive speculation he would make a return to his two original teams; the Toronto Raptors or the Golden State Warriors. This season also produced the team's highest scoring game with 161 points in a 168–161 quadruple overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls on March 1, 2019. It was also the third-highest scoring game in NBA history, as well as the third game where both teams scoring broke through the 160 point barrier in the same game. However, this brought the Hawks to another losing season as they missed the playoffs after a loss to the Rockets on March 19.
Entering draft night, the Hawks would have four draft picks, three of which being in the first round. Their first of three first round picks rose up into the Top 3 of the NBA Draft after tying the Dallas Mavericks with the third-worst record of the season the previous season. The next first round pick was had by trading Adreian Payne to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for their lottery-protected first round pick, which barely conveyed to them that season thanks to a do-or-die game at the end of that season against the Denver Nuggets. After that, their last first round pick was had by trading with the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets, acquiring the Houston Rockets' first round pick from this season in relation to the Clippers' blockbuster trade in their removal of Chris Paul, as well as Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone, and cash considerations from the Clippers and giving up the Washington Wizards' 2019 second round pick to Denver. Finally, their sole second round pick would be had by losing their first round tiebreaker with Dallas. Ironically, the Hawks would trade their third pick to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for a protected 2019 first round pick and the fifth pick of the draft, which became Trae Young from the University of Oklahoma. Young was a player that, before the start of the previous season, was projected to be a second round pick. However, Young grew to be a starpoint guard for the Sooners, to the point where he became the first ever player in NCAA history to lead the league in both points and assists in the same season in his sole season with Oklahoma. For their second first round pick of the draft, the Hawks drafted sophomore shooting guard Kevin Huerter from the University of Maryland as the 19th pick of the draft. Finally, with their last first round pick of the year, the Hawks selected freshman power forward Omari Spellman from Villanova University, who was a prominent member of the team under their championship run last season.
