Photograph by Ben Rollins
Onsi Saleh needs a regular breath of fresh air. Before draft night or the trade deadline, the Atlanta Hawks president of basketball operations spends 15 hours a day at the team’s downtown offices, poring over analytics, consulting with scouts, asking around the league about a player’s character, and discussing moves with ownership. So, some evenings after driving to his home in East Atlanta, he walks alone on the Beltline.
“It’s become a place of solace, but at the same time, an extension of the office,” says Saleh, who lives near the Eastside Trail. “I try not to think about work, but I can’t stop my brain from going through the different iterations of what to do. So yeah, I’ve made a couple trades out here, just walking around.”
At 40, Saleh is one of the youngest executives in the NBA and among the most coveted. In his first full year as the Hawks’ top executive, he made several franchise-defining moves, including trading Hawks icon Trae Young to free up funds. His bold, veteran-like decisions made the 2025–2026 season the team’s best since 2016. This spring, teams such as the Philadelphia 76ers expressed interest in hiring him for their top front-office job, so in May, the Hawks extended his contract and promoted him from general manager to president of basketball operations. Saleh says the extension represents his own commitment to Atlanta, the city that has embraced his vision.
Saleh was born to Palestinian immigrants in Austin, Texas, but grew up in Canada. His family moved to Lougheed, a Central Alberta village of 225 people, when he was an infant. They lived in a trailer next to a hotel where his parents worked. The family later moved to Edmonton to own and operate a small motel. Saleh and his two brothers also worked there, changing sheets, painting rooms, and stationing the front desk.
“We had to problem-solve a lot, to fix a broken pipe or window, to deal with all different kinds of people,” he says. “It matured me quickly and prepared me for law school and this job.” He and his brothers all grew well over six feet tall, played high school basketball, and loved watching the NBA.
Saleh earned his undergraduate degree at University of Alberta and specialized in sports law at Tulane Law School. Saleh entered the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs’ front office and then worked for the Golden State Warriors in basketball strategy and team counsel. In 2024, he joined the Hawks as an assistant general manager, with eyes on a top executive role “10 years down the line, if at all.” That opportunity came a year later, when Saleh was promoted to general manager in April 2025 following the firing of Landry Fields.
In Saleh’s time with the team, he has had to make tough decisions. In January, he traded Young and, this summer, former number one pick Zaccharie Risacher for Luguentz Dort, one of the most elite defenders in the NBA.
“I don’t get too hot and emotional about what I’m doing,” Saleh says. “You’re making decisions that involve hundreds of millions of dollars, but you can’t think of it that way, or it’ll become crippling.”
When Saleh first moved to Atlanta, he settled near Ponce City Market and walked the Beltline to discover the city. He found his East Atlanta neighborhood that way, after wandering down the trail and into Drip Coffee Shop. “I enjoyed that it was quieter,” he says. “I can still stay connected to the city and take those random walks.”
At six-foot-five, Saleh looks like he could be on the roster, and with his full beard, he’s recognizable. Fans often approach him on the Beltline to talk basketball. “I’ll listen to whoever has an opinion because there’s no wrong source for a right answer,” he says. “The fans that have come up to me have been supportive of what we’re building.”
He pauses before laughing. “They say that now, until we’re midseason and at 25–35. So far, though, I’ve been super fortunate with the basketball gods.”
This article appears in our November 2026 issue.
