Downfall of Atlanta Sports

Hunter Campolo, staff writer

 2025 was a terrible year to call yourself a fan of any Atlanta sports team, unless you watch the WNBA. The Hawks went 40-42, the Braves went 76-86 and the Falcons went 8-9. None made playoffs for their respective sports, and they all had losing records. Hopefully, however, 2026 will be different. Even with new management, alongside new and returning players, the future of ATL sports is still looking quite uncertain  

  Trae  Young having a down year didn’t help the Hawks who were already missing Kristaps Porzingis due to injury. A team that was in the conference finals just 4 years ago is now fighting for a play-in tournament berth. Trae Young was moved at the trade deadline to the Washington Wizards while Kristaps Porzingis was traded to the Golden State Warriors. The returns in both trades were weak because the value of Young and Porzingis was at an all-time low. Zac Rissacher, their former number one overall pick, has not played up to expectations and Dyson Daniels is having the worst shooting year of his career. Combine that with a team that gets out-rebounded every night and is near the bottom of the league in terms of defensive rating, and you get the dumpster fire of an organization that is the Atlanta Hawks.   

The Falcons came into the 2025-2026 season with high expectations in a very manageable state. With star players Drake London, Bijan Robinson and young quarterback Micheal Penix, the team was expected to thrive. The Falcons struggled for the majority of the season partly due to Penix being injured but also concerns about coaching and just overall consistency. They finished the season well, but their horrible start held them back. They ended up finishing 8-9, which happened to be the same record as the Panthers who made the playoffs out of their division, but the Panthers had a tiebreaker. Raheem Morris was fired shortly after the season ended, and Kevin Stefanski, the former Browns signal caller and offensive minded coach was brought in. Expectations will continue to be high going into next year.   

The Braves were at the top of the league’s charts when the season began, but then they miraculously started 0-6. After balancing their record 24-23, they had a 7-game losing streak to strike them back down. In 2 seasons, they went from 104 wins to a losing record. All 5 of their starting pitchers were injured at some point, making it near impossible to throw. On top of that, their backup pitchers like Raisel Iglesias were struggling too, causing them to lose winnable games because they couldn’t finish. Their offense fell off too, with their stars like Ozuna and Olson getting literally half as many homeruns as they did last season. One of their biggest contracts from last season, Jurickson Profar, was suspended four games into the season for 80 games, due to the use of performance enhancing drugs. He should’ve gotten caught before signing with the Braves, but instead, he left a gaping hole in their outfield when paired with Acuna’s absence. With their offense and defense crumbling, they slogged through the season to get a perfectly terrible losing record.   

While 2026 doesn’t look monumentally better for these teams, hopeful fans can pray all they want. While the teams’ loyalty is unwavering, the teamwork and skill certainly is. Obviously, supporters want them to do better, as everyone does for their own teams, but Atlanta will need to make some more serious changes before they’re back to leading the leagues