The Atlanta Hawks play in the Southeast Division of the NBA's Eastern Conference. The Atlanta Hawks play their home games in Phillips Arena in downtown Atlanta.

The franchise began in 1946 as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, playing for Moline, IL; Rock Island, IL; and Davenport, IA. As the Blackhawks, the franchise was one of the NBA's 17 original teams. The Blackhawks moved to Milwaukee in 1951 where they were known as the Hawks.

The team spent four losing seasons there before relocating to St. Louis in 1955. In St. Louis, the team began to find some success, making it to the West Finals in their first season, before losing to the Detroit Pistons in 5 games. In the teams second season in St. Louis it reached the NBA Finals, but lost to the Boston Celtics. In their third season in St. Louis the Hawks won their first NBA Championship in a rematch with the Celtics.

Despite their success in St. Louis, the Hawks were sold to an Atlanta group in 1968. With three cities, two names, and one NBA Championship, the Hawks are one of the leagues most storied franchises.

The major story of the 2009 story for the Hawks, was its ability to win! The Hawks had their first winning season since the 1998/99 Season. Although they made the NBA Playoffs the previous year with a record of 37-45, the Hawks were able to go within three games of the 50 win barrier with a 47-35 record.

The Hawks would go on and defeat Dwayne Wade and the Miami Heat in seven games in the first round of the playoffs before being swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

With another winning season in 2009/10, the Hawks look to have found a winning formula. That being said, they did just fire their now ex-coach, Mike Woodson after guiding them to the Playoffs two years in a row.

Although having a winning season doesn't seem that big a milestone for a lott of clubs, for a club like the Hawks, who had ten winless seasons, this was a big breakthrough for the club.