Hawks player says he found out about Lloyd Pierce firing over Twitter

The Atlanta Hawks either decided abruptly to fire coach Lloyd Pierce, or they did a very bad job communicating their coming decision with their players.

Pierce was fired on Monday after running the team’s practice. The firing apparently came as a shock, as one player told Chris Kirschner of The Athletic that he had learned of the firing via Twitter.

One Hawks player told me he found out Lloyd Pierce was fired from Twitter. There was no heads up.

Pierce coached the team in practice today in Miami.

— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) March 1, 2021

This is never a good look for any organization. Whether Hawks players liked or disliked Pierce, they have the right to know their coach’s status before the rest of the world does. It’s never going to make a player feel good if reporters know his coach was fired before the player does.

The Hawks have been a bit of a mess this year. Two of the team’s high-profile players apparently didn’t see eye-to-eye on the offense earlier in the season. Maybe that played a role in Pierce’s departure.