Ex-ESPN writer Bontemps joins Hawks front office

Former ESPN senior NBA writer Tim Bontemps has been hired for a front office role with the Atlanta Hawks. Bontemps will be a strategic adviser for the Hawks. He will report to Atlanta president of basketball operations Onsi Saleh. Bontemps, 41, has covered the NBA since 2012, including the last eight seasons for ESPN. In recent years, Bontemps' coverage at ESPN focused on team strategy, player movement and league trends. In addition to contributing to ESPN's digital and television coverage, Bontemps was a co-host of "The Hoop Collective" podcast, where he became known for delivering insight in blunt fashion. Bontemps joined ESPN in 2018 after a three-year stint as the national NBA writer for The Washington Post. Bontemps' coverage focused on the Eastern Conference for his first several years at ESPN. After graduating from St. Bonaventure in 2007, Bontemps began his journalism career in an entry-level position at the New York Post. He earned a promotion in 2012 to be the Brooklyn Nets beat writer, a position he held for three years before leaving for The Washington Post. The Hawks went 46-36 and lost in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual champion New York Knicks last season, which was Saleh's first as the franchise's lead basketball executive. Saleh made several trades to reshape Atlanta's roster, most notably a midseason deal that sent four-time All-Star point guard Trae Young to the Washington Wizards for C.J. McCollum and Corey Kispert.