3:40 pm: The trade is official, the Hawks and Trail Blazers announced.
11:20 am: The Hawks and Trail Blazers have agreed to a trade, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that Vit Krejci will be heading to Portland for Duop Reath and two second-round picks.
The Hawks will receive their own 2027 second-round pick back from Portland, as well as New York’s 2030 second-rounder, per Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link). The Blazers controlled both of those picks from previous trades.
Reath, a 6’9″ big man, recently underwent season-ending foot surgery. Although he doesn’t state it outright, Charania suggests Reath could be waived to open a roster spot for the Hawks (Twitter link). N’Faly Dante, who is also out for the season after tearing his ACL, is another candidate to be released, tweets cap expert Yossi Gozlan.
According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link), the Trail Blazers have been very active in trade conversations. They plan to promote two-way players Caleb Love and Sidy Cissoko to standard contracts after the February 5 deadline, Stein adds.
As several NBA insiders have noted, Atlanta evidently viewed Krejci as expendable after the team acquired Corey Kispert from Washington.
A 6’8″ guard, Krejci has averaged 9.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 42.3% from three-point range in 46 appearances this season (22.3 minutes per game). The 25-year-old is on a very affordable contract, earning $2.3MM this season, a non-guaranteed $2.7MM in 2026/27, with a $3MM team option for ’27/28.
Krejci’s outside shooting fills an immediate need for the Blazers, who rank last in the league in three-point percentage (33.6%). The former second-round pick will be extension-eligible in July, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
Reath, meanwhile, is earning $2.2MM this season and could be a restricted free agent in the summer if he finishes his current contract and is given a qualifying offer, though that seems unlikely.
Idk what Atlanta doing here…Vit is good young and cheap, and they trade him for their second big man on the roster who’s out for the year
Seems like they want to gather as many picks as possible, maybe to package in a bigger trade
Was thinking same thing
They will be opening up roster spot. Hawks also have plenty of picks, Vit would have been lost in rotation. This move helps him.
My trade grade for Trae Young deal
Wizards A
Hawks F
This deal
Blazers A
Hawks F
Blazers B+, Hawks TBD C- let’s see what they do.
Nice move by Portland adding a guy who hits 3pt shots at over 40%. Guys who can shoot 3pt shot have value
Hawks are working on another deal to be dropping payroll
The Hawks have 2 guys who are out for the season on minimums: N’Faly Dante and now Duop Reath. They got assets in this deal but it doesn’t make sense to have 2 guys on standard contracts who can’t play.
A lot of teams trade for 2nd round picks for a later trade. I would not doubt them trading for a player to help them this year at the deadline
I think both will likely be released, adding a little cap space.
If they had to waive someone for a subsequent deal anyways, this will look like a good deal for Atlanta, getting 2 picks in the process…
Guess they value the picks and the slight cap relief more? Idk
I guess they feel confident Dyson CJ and NAW can take the point minutes. Jalen offers playmaking too. While creating more minutes for Kispert and Kennard at the 2 spot.
Your adding picks back it’s not bad for ATL
Good for Vit. He has earned and deserves more playing time. The depth in Atlanta made it tough for this to happen.
Big Hawks fan, but glad for Vit to go somewhere where he might get more minutes.
Same here. Dude was great off the bench and will be missed. Seems like a jovial guy that is a fit for team chemistry. Will miss him.
POR seems to be targeting players with great attitudes. When you say jovial, I think of Clingan, Scoot, Avdija, and Yang. This team often looks like they are having fun competing. I’m glad to hear they are adding another.
Agreed. Vit looked like he was enjoying every minute he got and was always quick off the bench to congratulate teammates or pump them up during breaks. Never saw him go all ‘pout’ or ‘me first’ mode like some in the NBA.
No idea what he is really like obviously, but he always stayed within himself and seemed to take to whatever role they wanted him to, including playing point on second team at times last year … effectively.
Great trade for POR. Trade is questionable for the Hawks. It depends on what they do next with the 2nds. They are probably waiving Reath who is out for the season
And on what they do with the roster spot
And they told me this trade deadline would be boring…
It has been unless you are a Hawks fan.
Having a couple open roster spots and some room beneath the tax line is advantageous. At the very least, you’re an option to help out in a larger trade.
When I saw the headline I was hoping that the Hawks had managed to separate the Blazers from one of those Bucks swaps that the Blazers have…but, alas, the Hawks appear no closer to acquiring Giannis than they were before this trade.
These guy sounds like he’d be the bouncer at Chauncey’s underground poker game
My gosh, the trade we were all waiting to hear, actually happened! Breathtaking..
The Hawks, having 3 white shooters on their bench having the names Kennard, Kispert and Kretjci may have been afraid of being perceived as racist and so they got rid of one of them.