Following a surprise trip to the Eastern Conference finals, the Hawks face a few financial decisions that will shape the future of the franchise. Team owner Tony Ressler provided some insight into Atlanta’s mindset during an end-of-season news conference, writes Chris Kirschner of The Athletic.
Trae Young appears to be a lock for a full max extension that will pay him at least $168MM over five years, beginning with the 2022/23 season. Kirschner notes that Young’s contract will likely include language that would increase the value if he earns All-NBA or MVP honors.
The more difficult decision involves John Collins, a restricted free agent who turned down a $90MM extension last offseason. Kirschner identifies the Spurs as a “perfect fit” for Collins and points to the Heat and Mavericks as other potential suitors, which could result in a contract that will be difficult for Atlanta to match.
“Our job is to come to a fair agreement with John. That’s our objective. There should be no question,” Ressler said. “He’s a really good player and maybe more importantly, a really good person. So the idea of having both is important to this franchise. That’s my view. The idea of being smart for both of us, to come to a reasonable place, that’s the objective, and there should be no confusion. I think as (general manager) Travis (Schlenk) said, which I think is amazing, a lot of players that don’t agree to a contract going into this season, play in a certain way. John played as an amazing teammate trying to win games and doing whatever he could do to win games. John’s a really good guy and a really good teammate. I hope he is an Atlanta Hawk.”
Ressler touched on a few other subjects during the session with the media:
On whether the Hawks should now be considered title contenders:
“I personally think if we were completely healthy, I think we could have done more. I’m just going to say that. Come on, (Bogdan Bogdanovic) for a good chunk of the series was on one leg. Trae could not walk. … These are young men in their early 20s that could barely walk and were asked to play on one of the most difficult stages in the NBA. That’s pretty remarkable. Some of them had terrible injuries and they still tried to play, and some still played. … I think we have enough. I think we have some extraordinary talent that could be even better with each season. I absolutely believe we have enough to win a championship is the simple answer. But, hey, our job is to always try to be better.”
On his willingness to pay the luxury tax:
“What we are trying to achieve is literally keeping our best players, as you could imagine, trying to make clear that we’re going to have to spend a lot more than we have this season. We fully expect that. I’m not sure we’re going to be able to keep every single player that we want to keep. Pretty good bet, pretty good assumption we will not. But I do think we have several years that we should be able to build some real stability. If the question is are we scared of the tax, are we scared of going into the tax? I’m scared of paying the tax and not being a good team, yes, that I’m scared of, but if we have to go into the tax to be a great team for a period of time, so be it.”
On Atlanta’s fans embracing the team:
“I don’t want to make jokes about this, but four or five years ago, you could come to a playoff game and you could see more jerseys of a visiting player. Those days are over. When you see our fan base, when you see the jerseys they’re wearing, when you see the cheering going on, it’s very clear it’s for this team, this city and this franchise. We couldn’t be more proud of that.”
After re-signing Collins, Hawks still have 5 top tier rookie contracts
They should trade Collins and 20th pick to upgrade
You put him in the trade market, you hope that someone will make overpaid offers
You have more options.
Anything less than overpaid offer will be wasting of time.
So in other words the hawks will be back to doing hawks things and let Collins go, cheap out in contracts and return to a no playoff/first round exit team as usual. Team is a joke. Being a hawks fan is irritating.
To say “I think we have enough” is kind of bizarre. The Hawks are good no doubt, but does he really think the Hawks would have had enough to beat a healthy Nets? Or even the Lakers or Clippers?
I get the point but they made it to the conference finals and proved they can hang.. what are they supposed to say to their fans, “yeah we suck”?
Maybe…”we are a good team, but we need more to be champions”?
There is a big range between “we have enough” and “we suck”
Something like “we have a bright future”
I like Trae Young as a good player and good person
Anyone else will be on trade market and hope for overpaid offers
Ex
Kevin Huerter and cap for Royce Oneale
I would rather overpay for Collins than Markkanen.. why shouldn’t the Spurs or Heat offer the max?
The Hawks would be foolish not to match. “Fair agreement” is the price the market will bear.
You are right
Fair agreement = market value
Collins
real value is $90m
market value is $130m max
Fans disagree
According to Finance textbook
Fair value is market value
But what is this “real” value you refer to, if it’s not “market” or “fair”?
Real value is true value based on my performance matrix
Market value is overpaid value
Sabonis and Jaylen Brown get pay based on real value
Anybody paying Collins $130M they will regret it
I agree. Hope it’s not my Spurs. At something 100m/4y though, it makes sense. Higher still than ATLs original offer.
Fair agreement????? That would be market value. Collins hasnt made big money yet, and he’s earned and deserving of his market value.
Hawks are young and still growing. They should be better. But they are not sneaking up on no one next yr. McMillan can keep them right for whole yr. They can be good. But contenders, I don’t see it. Collins situation has to be fixed. I’m on record to move him for big upgrade. This can play into type season. East will be better and healthy. I doubt they make Top 4 next yr. Unless they trade Collins. Celtics, Heat, Pacers, Knicks even Hornets will be better next yr.
if the Hawks roll out the exact roster they had this year, they will easily secure the 4th seed, but I do agree that is likely the ceiling of that roster. Listening to various interviews, I’d guess the only changes the Hawks make are some low end bench depth.
Celtics and Heat had down yrs. Knicks will definitely upgrade trade or FA. I doubt Hawks get 4th seed. Knicks won’t unless they upgrade. Hawks in great position to get McCollum or LaVine or even Beal.
you aren’t the type to listen to logic & reason I see lol
4seed is the Hawks ceiling? Smh what do yall be watching??? We got the 4seed this yr. Literally ALL of our rotation guys were out for long stretches this yr except Kev (he was also hurt late in the season tho). 2 of our most important players, Dre & Cam were hurt for vast majority of the season, including the playoffs. Bogdan, Gallo, Okongwu, TSnell were all hurt at the beginning of the yr & all missed significant time. Then when they started coming back we lost Dre & then Cam for months which is a main reason LPierce got fired. Just having stability will help this team win more games. Having Dre & Cam healthy will obv improve the defense & the offense. Don’t just listen to interviews, look at the available info. Hawks will have near $20M in cap space with Snell, Hill, Lou coming off the books. Its definitely possible for them to improve in multiple ways & in more substantial ways than adding low end bench depth smh
Hawks were a 5 seed this year
Same record as the #4 seed & obv dominated them in a 7gm series
John,
Please get back to your offseason workouts, man. Commenting on this board isn’t going to get you that max contract you want.
Thanks,
b*ttholesurfer69
Ok but just like the Hawks will have returning players so might the Nets of everyone comes into camp healthy. They’ll have their big 3 to start the season and can probably build a better bench. And you never know who the Celtics and Heat will do this offseason too.
Nets will obv be a really good team next yr. Hawks obv in much better shape as far as being able to retain &/or upgrade our bench. Bruce Brown & Blake arent gonna be easy to keep. Nets payroll is much higher than Hawks. Also we’re a much younger team that will benefit way more from guys just improving naturally as they mature in the league. Boston already took a step back & the off-season just started & we were already better than them. Miami is another team that has way more issues than the Hawks as far as resigning their own free agents & again we were already better than them even as injured as we were all season long. A blind man can see that the Hawks are in much better position going forward than Cha, Bos, NYK & Mia. That being said it might be time for u to take an eye test
I agree, they will win more games. Thus a 4 seed but Nets, 76ers, and Bucks will remain better. Knicks were massive overachievers during the regular season and are likely to regress even with a first choice FA pg.
Your logic doesn’t quite add up. How do you trade Collins “for a big upgrade”? When have you ever seen a team in this situation of having a restricted FA they might not be able to afford AND get more value in return? Why would any team give you anything of more value when the Hawks are in a low leverage situation? They are more likely to get draft picks and maybe young players with upside who aren’t starters. Those are wildcards for a team that went deep into the playoffs? A team like the Hawks have to overpay. They haven’t been able to attract a marquee FT in forever.
What makes you think the Hawks won’t be able to afford John Collins? Nobody on our team is making over $20M/yr. Our roster is full of rookie contracts.. you say we haven’t attracted a marquee free agent in yrs, I’m guessing you were under a rock ever since we signed Bogdan Bogdanovic, Danilo Gallinari & Rajon Rondo just last summer smh. Paul Millsap was a marquee free agent. Joe Johnson was about a decade ago but obv he was a huge free agent signing & we got him the exact same way that you just said never happens. We gave Phoenix 2 1sts plus a starter in Boris Diaw for Joe. We gave all that up bc in any restricted free agent situation the RFA’s previous team (obviously) has all of the leverage. With John Collins every other team knows that John is a valuable player & the only way that ATL won’t just match his offer & retain him is if a team offers something substantial enough to make us ok with losing him
OK, fair enough. Clearly you’re a cap expert.
But what makes you think that referring to yourself, John Collins, in the third person is an appropriate way to represent yourself on this messageboard?
b*ttholesurfer69 feels like this is a tad disingenuous on your part.
The entire article is about whether or not they’re bringing Collins back because his asking price might be too high thus they’re use of the term “fair contract “. A marquee free agent is usually one of the top players in the league. None of those guys you mentioned fit that description senior sensitive. Those guys you mentioned are minor stars and role players. If the Heat land a guy like Kawhi, a marquee FA then that changes the dynamics of the East. Stop acting like progress will stand still for everyone but Atlanta.
Yeah dude is a clear homer. Nobody in the world is predicting an Atlanta dynasty but him!
What do you guys think about Capela truly? He is fine in my opinion to get you through the regular season and to the playoffs , but look what embid did to him Giannis. He pretty much got bullied by Embid. We need some muscle!! Okongwu is going to be good for the future and to be honest he mixed it up down low and held is own, but I think a trade for someone like Embid would be good for the team. I don’t know the contracts and money side like you guys, but just wanted to get your thoughts and maybe what we could do to make our 5 spot better until “O” is ready to take over. Thanks…
Well one thing is for sure, Philly isn’t trading Embiid. As for Embiid “like”, that player wouldn’t be available either. That said, you’re right about most of the rest.
I think capela is fine. There aren’t many upgrades better than him. Embid is a top player. He is going to bully.
you’re really expecting the 76ers to trade them Embid? Really? Realllly?
Sign and trade with the timberwolves for Beasley and a pick?
smh. No.
I’d keep Collins even if it is 4yrs 120million just let the market determine his value and sign him to it. Not many players you will be able to find that is willing to sacrifice much of his stats so Trae can be Trae. Where its really gonna is when you lose guys like Huerter because he’s up for a re-up also. I could see Huerter getting a 4yr 60-80million deal on the open market. He showed a lot of potential in the playoffs. I doubt the Hawks would pay Collins and Huerter knowing they have to give Trae the supermax and with Hunter getting paid soon. Welp you reap what you sow when you overpaid for Gallinari. But i can see them losing Huerter and Lou Williams.
smh… Gallo’s contract won’t affect John, Trae, Kev, Dre or Cam’s next contract. We been over this & over this smh. Its really not that complicated tbh most D students should be able to understand it. Gallo had 2 fully guaranteed yrs on his deal, this season (which is now over for the Hawks) & next season. He was our highest paid player this season & he’ll probably be 2nd behind John after John gets his new deal next month. After next season Gallo’s contract is only guaranteed for $5M tho, we can pay him $5M & he’ll be off our books meaning he won’t even be here when Trae & Kev’s extensions kick in. John is getting the max next month & Trae is getting a max extension. Kev may or may not get an extension, personally id wait & let him become a restricted free agent next summer & just sign him then. But either way the Hawks are gonna be just fine as far as payroll goes. Even if they become a luxury tax paying team in 2022/23 that’s fine bc we’re gonna be absolutely loaded with talent. Im not even a big Gallo fan but if u think Gallo’s contract was a bad 1 for the Hawks then u are misunderstanding some basic things about the nba/the Hawks/Gallo. We had the worst record in the East in 2020 without Gallo. We were 2 Ws away from winning the East in 2021 with Gallo. He was brought here to help us get over the hump & clearly mission accomplished. As far as us possibly losing Lou, that’s just fine tbh. If he’s not back in Atl then that’s a perfect spot for us to use our cap space this yr to upgrade at. Kendrick Nunn would be absolutely perfect for the Hawks. Hes basically Kris Dunn’s defense paired with Lou’s offense but just younger & more explosive. We could offer Nunn around $50M over 3yrs or $65M/4yrs on a front loaded deal & upgrade at backup pg while also weakening a division rival. Hawks showed last summer that they are willing to spend & it CLEARLY worked well. Seems obvious that there gonna keep spending
All of this is a pipe dream! Hawks don’t have the money or desire to pay all these people. 4 yrs and $60m for Nunn is terrible
Ofc Gallo’s contract hurts, and still hurts today, and will hurt even more tomorrow
You will either have to trade a pick to get him off the books or lose out on signing a key player
Silver has made creating a DYNASTY (even if you draft most your key players like ATL) very very hard with the new Cap restrictions unless your gonna go all Lacob into the tax via bird rights (your not).
Any and every bad contract takes it’s toll these days…Thank God for OKC and 1st Rd draft picks tho huh?
When I broke down Atlanta’s future cap prospects for this gentleman previously I actually left out Gallo.
Trae+Collins on max deals +Clint+Bogdan+Gallo would put them roughly at 120m in 2022-23 for just those 5, which is basically a cap apocalypse for any team not named the Lakers or Warriors.
You think the Hawks will still be paying big $ to Gallo in 2023??? Smh man y’all are slow… Next year is the last guaranteed yr on Gallo’s contract. Is that that hard of a concept to comprehend?
Lol in what way does Gallo’s contract hurt anything yesterday, today or tmrw? He has an expiring contract, why would we need to attach a 1st to him to get him off the books unless it’s to create space to sign Kawhi?.. creating a dynasty has always been very hard, that’s a main reason it rarely happens. Of course the Hawks will eventually have to pay the luxury tax but even if we give John a max contract, give Trae a max extension, sign Kendrick Nunn for around $15M/yr & keep Gallo we won’t even be near the tax next yr & obv we’d have an extremely strong team. Feel free to keep wishing against us tho lol
They don’t have the $? What are you talking about lol just do the least amount of research into this subject & you’ll see we can easily get up to $20-25M in cap space when free agency starts. Obv that’s more than enough to offer Nunn a $60-70M/4yr deal. You also say the Hawks have no desire to spend smh I’ll just point back to what they just did last summer. They gave big contracts to Gallo & Bogdan & 8figure deals to Kris Dunn & Rondo as well. But miserable haters are gonna be miserable haters so I expect nothing less from you & your multiple usernames smh
It’s terrible indeed. But let’s remember one thing here: Sankara is, in all likelihood, just John Collins’ burner account.
I don’t think he’s quite there yet, at the player/GM level. But give him time.
As he matures and learns the cap I think he could have a bright future in a front office some day.
The Hawks are set up nicely to be the next nba dynasty. John will obv be back on a max deal unless some team like Sacramento offers Bagley plus a top10 pick for him. We also have plenty of ways to upgrade the roster (draft, free agency, trades) as well as the natural progression of what was the youngest team in the postseason. We beat Philly 3 times in 4 tries on their home floor including a win or go home gm7 that we won even tho our star struggled for most of the game. We were up late in the 3rd on our home floor vs Milwaukee with the series tied at 1 when Trae got hurt on a fluke play by stepping on the refs foot. And all of that was accomplished without 2 of our starters/best defensive players, Dre Hunter & Cam Reddish. Even casual fans that only started paying attention to the Hawks during the playoffs should be well aware of all these facts. Yet I see numerous people on here saying that the Hawks have peaked & that the Knicks & Hornets are somehow gonna pass us up lol & that trading our 24yo beast of a forward is the only way for us to improve smh. Someone created an alternate username just to say that we should try to trade Clint for Embiid somehow smh. How about instead of criticizing nba players so much yall take a step back and evaluate your own lack of knowledge of these players, teams & the league in general? Yall obv have an interest in the game, if so then watch more of the games. Maybe watch with the volume down so u don’t end up parroting the tired narratives that JVG, Barkley & company serve to the casuals
Next nba dynasty is a vast overstatement. When you say “dynasty” Think of the GSW, the Jordan Bulls, the Duncan Spurs. you’re buggin.
Silver has made it crazy hard to maintain a dynasty after 2016….Id have to think it was on purpose as fans started getting Cle v GSW tired
Only way GSW has maintained has been Lacobs insane stomach bearing the tax
ATL will not have such an appetite for that kind of tax even tho they have the bird rights to ultimately have a pretty solid run
Still; Traes nowhere near Curry
They dont have a Klay
And JC is nowhere near prime Green
Good time to be an ATL fan but this sounds like McBurger chatter here
Yup, and this has been the case for teams who draft extremely well. Even look at OKC a decade ago with Russ KD Harden and Serge.
The reward for drafting 3-4 potentially great players is, at max, you can keep 2-3 of them, but you have to extend them before they hit their prime.
What Atlanta has to do with Collins and Memphis will have to do with J3 isn’t much different than OKC’s decision with Harden.
You can flip him for 3 quarters on the dollar, which isn’t appealing. But you can also max him out and run the risk he becomes immediately overpaid and immovable, which isn’t any better.
OKC was a small market team that was already paying huge contracts to KD, Russ & Ibaka when it was time for Harden to get his deal. ATL isn’t a small market at all & is paying huge $ to nobody. We can pay John the max & be nowhere near the tax line. If y’all are so passionate about this stuff, even just to be negative, it makes sense to be more knowledgeable & to have a better grasp of the facts & how the system works
Bro, it’s not even free agency yet, and your owner is already balking at giving Collins the max talking about “fair deals”—doesn’t sound like max money talk to me—yet you’re replying at length to every person who objects to this team a priori being the next dynasty of the league?
This was my mistake though even replying to one of your threads, TBH.
Because, now that I think about it, you’re right—John Collins is absolutely a max guy. And they’ll re-sign everyone on this roster to a rookie extension without a problem (and even add multi-time All Star Kendrick Nunn to the mix). And win the next 3 championships.
I’m sorry I ever doubted your eternal wisdom, Sankara, Oracle of Magic City.
Ha Surfer …The irony is soo rich…they haven’t even paid JC and they are talking about not paying !!!
Meanwhile this guys writing blank checks
Of course you’re the same guy that thought the Hawks being 2 Ws away from the Finals this season was a vast overstatement before this season began so you’re experienced at being slow/wrong when it comes to the Hawks
Dynasty? Maybe get out of the second round first?
Lol I guess you haven’t been watching the NBA playoffs these past few weeks
I guess you’re a homer dude.
I meant get out of the ECF, but my mistake is much, much, much smaller than yours.
I think the Hawk should consider doing a sign and trade with Philly for Ben Simmon and play Simmon at the PF position. I know he is a bad free throw shooter but can be a match up nightmare. Plus he can help Young play off the ball. Can you imagine Reddish, Hunter, Simmons and Clint on the floor playing defense together. Free throws now that another problem with Simmon and Clint but with Simmons he will solve the backup PG problem and he will help out with the rebound. I just think Simmon is a better fix than Collins going forward.
I’d LOVE to have Ben Simmons on the Hawks. He definitely wouldn’t play the 4 for us on offense. I mean for anyone who’s ever seen him play hes clearly not a guy that can stretch the floor like John. Ben plays much more like a big point guard offensively & he always has. Thats what he’d be in Atl too. He’d basically be our secondary ballhandler/creator/facilitator. Ben would probably be involved with Trae in the picknroll at times as a secondary roll guy (w Clint continuing to be the primary) but Dre would play a lil more as the big forward offensively. We’d also have 1 of the best defensive quartets in the league surrounding Trae (Cam, Dre, Ben, Clint)… but I highly doubt that Philly would be interested in a John Collins for Ben Simmons type deal. They already have Tobias as their 4 & he is extremely expensive & is coming off a great season (even tho he struggled vs Atl in the playoffs).
I think if we used Simmon like Draymond Green then you won’t need to stretch the floor, plus if Reddish improves his game there won’t be enough touches at the PF spot. Golden State championship years Draymond was the 4 or sometimes 5th option. I believe Simmon can play that same role better. Also New Jersey is still out there and we will need 2 to 3 guys to match up on defense. My thinking Simmon has loss some stock in trade value plus is still young. They will want some young talent for him and John fix the bill. Also we have enough on the bench to stretch the floor.
I agree that Ben would be great for the Hawks or any other team tbh but again Philly won’t value John as high as most other teams bc they already have a similar guy in Tobias Harris that plays same position. That would be almost$70M/yr they’d be spending on a couple of big time scoring pfs that aren’t great defenders. Also it’s definitely been in style to down Ben Simmons lately but as far as people that matter & know the game he’s still extremely valuable & Daryl Morey is definitely on that list along with pretty much every other NBA exec
I think what this gentleman is trying to say by “fair deal” is Trae at 34m Collins at 30m Clint and Bogdan at 18m per each equals 100m per year.
That’s too much for not enough, at least if you’re trying to win a title where KD/Harden, LeBron/AD, Kawhi/PG aren’t guaranteed to be hurt every playoffs.
Hawks were a great feel good story this playoffs and have a lot to be proud of. Yet I’m sure Schlenk will look deep into the past — to the 2020 Miami Heat and take heed of how feel good stories can bounce back…poorly.
The Collins thing is going to be tough. I’m not sure there’s a great answer for them, short of Collins leaving money on the table. Spurs especially have nothing to lose by making a huge offer.
Lol how about u chill from leaving comments for like a week, take that week to go brush up on the game & learn more about the stuff you’re speaking on & then come back ready to talk some basketball. So many things wrong with your comment I don’t even know where to start
Wait. Haven’t we already established that you’re John Collins’ burner account?
John, listen. Trying to convince the commenters at HoopsRumors that you’re worth the max is NOT going to convince Travis Schlenk to give it to you.
PLEASE. I’m rooting for you, man. But you really need to talk to Travis about this stuff.
PS—Tell Gallo I loved the mohawk this postseason.
Stories like this are why teams like the Hawks, Cavs, Hornets, Knicks, Suns, Lakers (since the death of Jerry Buss) etc etc all are who they are.. they have flashes.. and then the rot within takes over as always.. this is why teams like the Heat, Spurs, Jazz, Blazers, Celtics, and others also succeed so often and rarely pick in the top 5 of the draft.. they don’t treat players as property. Other teams seem to do this too often.
An example of what I mean… while the Hawks want a “fair” deal… The Heat last season faced a similar situation with Bam Adebayo… they had him on the books for another season, didn’t have to do a thing. Instead of looking for “what’s fair” they brought him in.. told him their long term plans, and let Bam himself pick if he wanted a max extension right there and now.. or to wait until this off season to help the Heat maximize cap space. Bam got his extension…. if he was an Atlanta Hawk today.. they would be talking about “fair agreements” all summer.
Lol u are a trip fr
Would you like to elaborate or just insult people? I at least expected someone to say “Suns in the finals now, Lakers won it all last year…” to which I would have pointed out neither would even be playoff teams without players forcing their wills on the franchise, not because of the franchise making moves…. the same way the Cavs succeeded with Lebron (then picked #1 over all 3 of 4 years without him, and are bottom feeders again now)
For Atlanta, they don’t have too much of an issue with the salary as what people think. Even signing Collins to around 25-28 a year doesn’t put them in a bind. After that, a young extension and huerter(my guess around 12-14), with them turning down Gallinari final year, is still reasonable because The salary cap will also increase. I think the issue will come down to that next year. They will need to make a decision on hunter or reddish before that, because they will be in line for their contracts..
Bottom line is… Small Tweeks will give big results when it comes to cap space.
I thought they were saying “trade young” like trade somewhere else
So are they trading him or no?