The 2020–21 Atlanta Hawks season was the 72nd season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the 53rd in Atlanta. On March 1, 2021, head coach Lloyd Pierce was fired after a 14–20 start^[1] and replaced by Nate McMillan, who would serve out the remainder of the year as interim head coach. On May 12, the Hawks clinched their first playoff appearance since 2017, ending their four-year playoff drought. On May 15, The Hawks clinched their first Southeast Division title since 2014–15 when the Miami Heat lost to the Milwaukee Bucks 122–108.

The Hawks surprised many on their playoff run as they went on to defeat the fourth seeded New York Knicks in five games in the first round.^[2] Then in a major upset, the Hawks defeated the top seeded Philadelphia 76ers in seven games in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals; two of their victories involved coming back from large deficits. They advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2015.^[3] However, their run would come to an end as they lost in six games to the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals, coached by former Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer, who had led them to the Eastern Conference finals in 2015.^[4] The team is similar to the 1977–78 Seattle SuperSonics, as both teams struggled early on, made a coaching change, got a better record to surge up the standings, and had an unexpectedly deep playoff run.^[5]