Kornett, Horford push back on Hawks' plan to honor Magic City, famed Atlanta strip club

NBA teams do promotional nights all the time — First Responders' Night, Star Wars Night, many others — but Atlanta's plan for one has gotten pushback from a couple of players.

Atlanta is going to celebrate the "iconic cultural institution Magic City" on March 16 when the Orlando Magic come to town.

"Iconic cultural institution" was some playful wording — Magic City is a famed strip club in the city. One that has been around for 40 years and been instrumental to the hip-hop music scene in the city, something David Aldridge and Law Murray wrote about at The Athletic: T.I., Migos, Jermaine Dupri, 2 Chainz, Killer Mike, Big Boi, Future and many others got a big break having their music played at the club.

However, it is a strip club (there will not be strippers performing at the game, just to be clear). That didn't sit well with San Antonio's Luke Kornett, who posted on X about it, and Al Horford backed him up.

The NBA sees itself as progressive on many fronts, so a promotional night with a strip club is... unusual. To put it kindly.

That said, the Hawks are not backing down from this and reportedly sold a couple thousand extra tickets for the night.

There are a lot of tie-ins that night. Before the game, Hawks' Principal Owner, filmmaker, and actor Jami Gertz will take part in a special taping of the Hawks AF Podcast. Gertz helped produce a five-part STARZ docuseries, "Magic City: An American Fantasy" and the podcast taping will feature a conversation about the documentary and the impact of the club on Atlanta music, sports, and culture.

Magic City Kitchen will serve two versions of their 'world famous' lemon pepper wings: Louwill Lemon Pepper BBQ and traditional Lemon Pepper. Louwill wings are named after former NBA player Lou Williams, who famously got in trouble during the bubble season because he was released to go to a family member's funeral, and while in Atlanta he swung by Magic City and picked up some wings.

"From the food to the music and the exclusive merchandise, we are excited to team up with Magic City to create an authentic, True to Atlanta-inspired game experience," said Hawks Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Proctor.

Just not everyone is going to be happy about it.