As free agency opens, the Hawks and John Collins aren’t close to an agreement on a new contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (video link), who reports that there’s no momentum in those talks yet.
Collins is one of the top free agents on the market – he ranked second overall in our top-50 list – but he’s restricted rather than unrestricted, giving the Hawks plenty of leverage in contract negotiations.
While it’s possible another team could swoop in with a big offer sheet for Collins, multiple reports this weekend suggested that his potential suitors were becoming resigned to the idea that he’d likely remain in Atlanta.
That’s still the most probable outcome, even if Collins and the Hawks aren’t ready to come to an agreement right when free agency opens. Collins turned down a four-year, $90MM+ extension offer from Atlanta last offseason and will likely end up reaching a deal worth north of $100MM with the team this week. However, until the two sides reach an agreement, the door is open for something unexpected to happen.
I’d hawks don’t give him the max another team will
The annual RFA game of chicken. League should really do something about this. Maybe let the RFAs meet with teams and sign offer sheets a few days earlier. The idea was third party pricing, not this.
Collins and Reddish for Wiggins and Wiseman
Hawks have cap room to absorb the extra salary
Why wpuld the Hawks want to spend more money to get worse
Spurs here waiting in case it blows up