Hawks -- State of the Franchise

[Jamaaliver]

The most important trade of the 2025 Deadline day.

Read on Twitter

[jayu70]

After all the moves, 2025-26 salary outlook:
2025-36 Hawks salary: 8 guarantees ($124.9 million) and 2 non-guarantees ($4.5 million for next season - Total $139.4 million.

Adding 2 potential 1st round picks at $6 million...TOTAL $145.6 million. So that's $9 million in capspace 

Salary cap =  $154.6 million
Luxury Tax =  $187.9 million

2 TPEs available - $25.2 mil and $3.7 mil

[HMFFL]

The most important trade of the 2025 Deadline day.

Read on Twitter

We won't ever become a successful team until our FO values draft picks. Our ownership has ran a proper business to be medicore and to make a profit. .

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using RealGM mobile app

[CP War Hawks]

Hawks have created 15-20m in cap space for the offs. If you move off of Mann that number goes up to 30+. It's an interesting dynamic to have significant cap space with all your young pieces locked up and the ability to potentially add Turner, if not the top guys in FA.

[dms269]

Hawks have created 15-20m in cap space for the offs. If you move off of Mann that number goes up to 30+. It's an interesting dynamic to have significant cap space with all your young pieces locked up and the ability to potentially add Turner, if not the top guys in FA.

I'll have to relook at the numbers but when I broke it down yesterday the number seemed to be less than 10M.

Sent from my SM-G975U using RealGM mobile app

[jayu70]

Hawks have created 15-20m in cap space for the offs. If you move off of Mann that number goes up to 30+. It's an interesting dynamic to have significant cap space with all your young pieces locked up and the ability to potentially add Turner, if not the top guys in FA.

I'll have to relook at the numbers but when I broke it down yesterday the number seemed to be less than 10M.

Sent from my SM-G975U using RealGM mobile app

It's about $9 mil....8 guarantees, 2 non- gurantes, 2 - 2025 1st (maybe).

[Jamaaliver]

Hawks about to get a nice fat $11+ million check from the NBA just for existing under the Luxury Tax.

[remi_222]

After the deadline, what should be the rotation ??

[jayu70]

After the deadline, what should be the rotation ??

Trae/LeVert/Vit
Dyson/Mann
Zacch/Vit/Garrison
Niang/Barlow
OO/Nance

until CC returns

[Jamaaliver]

After the deadline, what should be the rotation ??

Okongwu-Risacher-Dyson-Trae Young seem set as the 4 main for the remainder of this season.

George Niang played in Utah under and should know the offense a bit better than anyone of the other new guys.

Best guess is that Dom Barlow gets a couple more starts...if that doesn't prove fruitful, then Niang moves into the starting 4 spot for a while.

[jayu70]

After the deadline, what should be the rotation ??

Trae/LeVert/Vit
Dyson/Mann
Zacch/Vit/Garrison
Niang/Barlow
OO/Nance

until CC returns

Rethinking.
I think Barlow or MoG should start at PF alongside OO. Niang with OO will be too small.
Hawks need to play big.

[tbhawksfan1]

Mo G and Dom need to get mins. I think both Mo and Vit will be brought back next season. Barlow needs to earn his next contract

For this season Hawks need size in the frontcourt.

Niang probably plays better next to CC off the bench if he's at PF

[Jamaaliver]

This takes us from the end of the Travis Schlenk era to the current day:

Spoiler:

Read on Twitter

[HMFFL]

Mo G and Dom need to get mins. I think both Mo and Vit will be brought back next season. Barlow needs to earn his next contract

For this season Hawks need size in the frontcourt.

Niang probably plays better next to CC off the bench if he's at PF

I agree with all of this.

We've needed size in our frontcourt for years. That was our reality in the ECF when the Bucks bullied us.

I hope we can get some size in the draft.



Sent from my SM-S928U1 using RealGM mobile app

[Jamaaliver]

No, the Atlanta Hawks aren't tanking

The Atlanta Hawks aren't throwing in the towel on the season

Watch on YouTube

...the Hawks moved on from De'Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic without netting a first-round pick in return. Atlanta did acquire a pair of complicated first-round swaps from the Cleveland Cavaliers but, in reality, the Hawks' return centers on three rotation-level players and an exchange of second-round draft capital.

Hawks general manager Landry Fields and company arguably sent out the two best players involved in either transaction, though that ignores that Bogdanovic is in the midst of what amounts to a lost season due to injuries and struggles on the floor. In contrast, Hunter is enjoying easily the best season of his six-year NBA career, averaging 19.0 points per game on strong efficiency and emerging as a legitimate candidate for the league's Sixth Man of the Year award.

While most teams in the NBA are some degree of "all-in" or "fully rebuilding," the Hawks are snugly in the middle. In short, this is not a full-blown rebuild in Atlanta. They have no reason to tank, simply because the Spurs own the Hawks' 2025 first-round pick. Atlanta did not make any "buying" moves at this deadline or over the summer, but the team's front office also made it clear, both in actions and words, that the Hawks are trying to be competitive now. Trae Young has lifted a mismatched group of offensive players to respectability on that end of the floor and, very quietly, Atlanta is enjoying its best defensive season in several years.

The glass ceiling for the Hawks is likely a play-in berth this season, and that writing was on the wall the moment that Johnson was diagnosed with a torn labrum. However, head coach Quin Snyder does have pieces now to maintain respectability and, rather than bottoming out in a way that some other teams in a play-in position might, Atlanta understood its situation, without any draft-related incentive to do so, and pivoted to a series of nuanced, yet understandable moves.

One can...make the case that the Hawks are resetting their financial books for the future, which is also logical (yet frustrating) for a team that hasn't paid the luxury tax in any season under the current ownership group. Nothing about what the Hawks did ahead of the 2025 NBA Trade Deadline was easy to decipher from the outside, and that was ironically in line with all of the team's conflicting incentives when the season began. They aren't all-in. They aren't rebuilding. They are retooling. They are young and figuring things out on the fly.

Fansided

[Geaux_Hawks]

No, the Atlanta Hawks aren't tanking

The Atlanta Hawks aren't throwing in the towel on the season

Watch on YouTube

...the Hawks moved on from De'Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic without netting a first-round pick in return. Atlanta did acquire a pair of complicated first-round swaps from the Cleveland Cavaliers but, in reality, the Hawks' return centers on three rotation-level players and an exchange of second-round draft capital.

Hawks general manager Landry Fields and company arguably sent out the two best players involved in either transaction, though that ignores that Bogdanovic is in the midst of what amounts to a lost season due to injuries and struggles on the floor. In contrast, Hunter is enjoying easily the best season of his six-year NBA career, averaging 19.0 points per game on strong efficiency and emerging as a legitimate candidate for the league's Sixth Man of the Year award.

While most teams in the NBA are some degree of "all-in" or "fully rebuilding," the Hawks are snugly in the middle. In short, this is not a full-blown rebuild in Atlanta. They have no reason to tank, simply because the Spurs own the Hawks' 2025 first-round pick. Atlanta did not make any "buying" moves at this deadline or over the summer, but the team's front office also made it clear, both in actions and words, that the Hawks are trying to be competitive now. Trae Young has lifted a mismatched group of offensive players to respectability on that end of the floor and, very quietly, Atlanta is enjoying its best defensive season in several years.

The glass ceiling for the Hawks is likely a play-in berth this season, and that writing was on the wall the moment that Johnson was diagnosed with a torn labrum. However, head coach Quin Snyder does have pieces now to maintain respectability and, rather than bottoming out in a way that some other teams in a play-in position might, Atlanta understood its situation, without any draft-related incentive to do so, and pivoted to a series of nuanced, yet understandable moves.

One can...make the case that the Hawks are resetting their financial books for the future, which is also logical (yet frustrating) for a team that hasn't paid the luxury tax in any season under the current ownership group. Nothing about what the Hawks did ahead of the 2025 NBA Trade Deadline was easy to decipher from the outside, and that was ironically in line with all of the team's conflicting incentives when the season began. They aren't all-in. They aren't rebuilding. They are retooling. They are young and figuring things out on the fly.

Fansided

I came into the year with the idea that we were re-tooling, and i'm okay with how that has went so far. We've needed to put more defense around Trae since he was drafted, and the assumption has been that if we keep throwing shooters around him, we'll thrive.

That's what Bogi can do, but when you're constantly injured/hurt, that's no good. Add on not being a strong defender, and it just hinders the upside of the team. Hunter is just as flawed in his own ways. We've needed more versatile defenders and energy guys around Trae than streaky shooters. I think we're now headed down the right track.

In my opinion, the Orlando game shows that our deadline moves were more intentional than people expected. Niang, Levert, and Mann all made an impact in some way, and it was night and day to what we were doing prior. Communication, shot-making, defense, energy, etc.. Those are the kind of guys Quin needs making an impact off the bench. Even Mo getting a good the start was impactful. You throw a Jalen Johnson into that mix, and add some legit size at the 5 behind OO, and we might surprise the East as a top team.

[Jamaaliver]

I agree with you 100%.

But what needs to happen to convince Trae to actually sign an extension with Atlanta this summer?


If Trae declines because he doesn't see a true path to contention...it's all for nothing, really.

I came into the year with the idea that we were re-tooling, and i'm okay with how that has went so far. We've needed to put more defense around Trae since he was drafted, and the assumption has been that if we keep throwing shooters around him, we'll thrive.

That's what Bogi can do, but when you're constantly injured/hurt, that's no good. Add on not being a strong defender, and it just hinders the upside of the team. Hunter is just as flawed in his own ways. We've needed more versatile defenders and energy guys around Trae than streaky shooters. I think we're now headed down the right track.

In my opinion, the Orlando game shows that our deadline moves were more intentional than people expected. Niang, Levert, and Mann all made an impact in some way, and it was night and day to what we were doing prior. Communication, shot-making, defense, energy, etc.. Those are the kind of guys Quin needs making an impact off the bench. Even Mo getting a good the start was impactful. You throw a Jalen Johnson into that mix, and add some legit size at the 5 behind OO, and we might surprise the East as a top team.

[Geaux_Hawks]

I agree with you 100%.

But what needs to happen to convince Trae to actually sign an extension with Atlanta this summer?


If Trae declines because he doesn't see a true path to contention...it's all for nothing, really.

I came into the year with the idea that we were re-tooling, and i'm okay with how that has went so far. We've needed to put more defense around Trae since he was drafted, and the assumption has been that if we keep throwing shooters around him, we'll thrive.

That's what Bogi can do, but when you're constantly injured/hurt, that's no good. Add on not being a strong defender, and it just hinders the upside of the team. Hunter is just as flawed in his own ways. We've needed more versatile defenders and energy guys around Trae than streaky shooters. I think we're now headed down the right track.

In my opinion, the Orlando game shows that our deadline moves were more intentional than people expected. Niang, Levert, and Mann all made an impact in some way, and it was night and day to what we were doing prior. Communication, shot-making, defense, energy, etc.. Those are the kind of guys Quin needs making an impact off the bench. Even Mo getting a good the start was impactful. You throw a Jalen Johnson into that mix, and add some legit size at the 5 behind OO, and we might surprise the East as a top team.

Me personally, I think Trae just has to just buy in to the recent moves we've been pulling off starting with the DD/DJM trade and then believe in the growth of JJ and DD as his co-stars because Quin and co are doing a good job of developing the talent. Obviously they will have to show it on the court, but throwing what resources we do have at an aging star like Durant just ends up being a temporary band aid, and doesn't really guarantee a bright future like we currently have if we stay the course of what we got.

Again, my personal evaluation of the team is that this is the most upside we have had in a long time, and seeing how it's the best defensive unit we've assembled since the Budz days, there's reason to believe that this is the core that can compete for a title with another tweak or two.

Trae also needs to consider what other team or group of players are out there that can actually cater to his weaknesses, while still having the resources to build a championship team better than we can. We've made him the centerpiece of our team, and have several pieces in place around him already. I'm not saying it can't be done, but SA is off the list with Fox at PG. LAL has Luka now. I doubt he see's himself as the missing piece in Phoenix, unless he really wants to be Booker's backcourt mate, but Phoenix still doesn't have the resources unless KD brings in a massive haul. Orlando and Houston could be potential landing spots, but I only think Orlando would be truly interested unless Houston got a huge discount in acquisition costs. Brooklynn has the cap space for moves, but I don't know if they have the coaching staff. Again, i'm not saying he can't go somewhere else and be successful, but it would really suck for him to go somewhere else and then watch guys like DD, Zaach, and JJ start turning the corner more, while his new team struggles to adapt with him.

[dms269]

My biggest offseason request...
An enforcer. Someone who will go out there to hard foul some guys when needed to send a message. A Zaza or Ivan Johnson style.

Sent from my SM-G975U using RealGM mobile app

[Jamaaliver]

I do believe this is the goal for Summer 2025.

But it's extremely unlikely...

Read on Twitter