The Hawks have officially signed first-round pick Asa Newell to his rookie scale contract, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.
Atlanta selected Newell at No. 23 after reaching a trade agreement with New Orleans to trade down from No. 13. Reporting on draft night indicated that the Hawks considered the Atlanta native with that 13th overall pick, so they were thrilled when he was still on the board 10 spots later.
Newell, meanwhile, was excited to land with his hometown team, telling reporters after the draft that he “knew deep in my heart that I really wanted to go to the Hawks.”
A 6’10” forward/center, Newell played his first and only college season at Georgia, averaging 15.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.0 steal, and 1.0 block in 29.0 minutes per game while making 54.3% of his field goal attempts.
Assuming he signs for the maximum allowable 120% of his rookie scale amount, which nearly every first-rounder does, Newell will earn $3.24MM in his first NBA season and a total of $16.24MM across the course of his four-year deal.
Asa is a nice talent. More of a modern 4. Who can play on perimeter. Needs to get his D together. Young with upside. I would not have passed on Sorber. Especially knowing Capela was not coming back. Sorber a real big has a brighter future imo.
sorber was already taken 8 picks ahead.
link to nba.com
You miss the draft this year. It was on ABC.
Hawks gave up their pick. Pelicans took Queen with it. Another guy they passed on. Sorber and Queen will be two of top bigs from this draft. Along with Maluach. Passing on Sorber was a mistake.