An NBA scout who had been bearish on the Hawks‘ ceiling with Trae Young as their centerpiece tells Ken Sugiura of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (subscription required) that he liked the fact the team “picked a path” ahead of the trade deadline. After dealing Young to Washington for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, Atlanta made four additional deals, adding Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield, Gabe Vincent, and Jock Landale as well as three future second-round picks.
“I think they’re going all in on chemistry over absolute talent,” the scout told Sugiura. “Trae was a better player than what they had, but not necessarily a winning player. … You either have to go all in and build around Trae or you’ve got to go all in with the young guys and start to build it together, and it looks like they’ve done that. They’ve made sure that almost everyone they’ve brought in has been a shooting piece, except for Kuminga.”
Besides generating some extra cap flexibility, taking a shot on a former lottery pick in Kuminga, and adding a few minor draft assets, the Hawks have positioned themselves to continue adding talent. That effort will begin with the valuable 2026 first-round pick Atlanta controls, which will be the most favorable of the Bucks’ and Pelicans’ selections.
The scout who spoke to Sugiura said the Hawks are set up for “long-term growth” and suggested there are multiple spots on the roster that the front office could look to address this summer.
“You could argue that they could upgrade at center over (Onyeka) Okongwu or they could keep it as is and try to get an upgrade over (Zaccharie) Risacher, with, like, a big, long defensive three-and-D (wing) that kind of makes sense for their group,” the scout said. “But I think they could go either direction there. And they’ll have to rebuild a little bit of the bench in the offseason.”
We have more from around the Southeast:
- The Heat are typically active on the buyout market, but that may not be the case this year, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, who says the team wants to make sure it has enough meaningful minutes to go around for its young players in the final two months of the season. That was also one reason why Miami stood pat at the trade deadline after striking out on Giannis Antetokounmpo instead of seeking out a marginal upgrade that would have cut into the playing time for those youngsters, Chiang adds.
- Jahmir Young, who is on a two-way contract with the Heat, may not be one of those younger players who sees regular action in the second half of the season — he has logged just 44 total minutes in eight NBA games so far this season. Still, as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel details (subscription required), Young has exceeded the team’s expectations with his excellent performance for the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the G League (26.2 PPG, 8.9 APG, 5.3 RPG in 22 games). “Jahmir has been one of the better surprises of the season,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s been playing simply fantastic basketball in Sioux Falls. And then whenever we have an opportunity to see him, he’s just a handful because he’s going full speed. … Our guys are always telling him (in practice), ‘Hey, dial it back a little bit,’ and we’re always telling him, ‘No, be who you are. Be a total nightmare to guard.'”
- Within an analysis of the first half of the Magic‘s season and a look at what’s to come after the All-Star break, Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required) observes that the team still has an open spot on its 15-man roster after signing Jevon Carter earlier this month. Orlando figures to wait until sometime in March (or April) to fill that opening in order to remain below the luxury tax line, per Beede, who identifies two-way player Jamal Cain as a candidate for a promotion.
Being that Anthony Edwards just played spoiler with the Hawks future plans by going on a hot mic with Jalen Johnson and telling him that AE “cant wait to come home to play with JJ and all the wings they have, like Kuminga”, really shows why they moved on from Trae. AE is coming. They know it too.
The KD files exposé really overshadowed this AE hot mic incident, but its crazy Ant-man really went there. He hates playing for the Wolves. And KD hates the Rockets. Ja and Zion definitely getting traded for these guys, that multi-team deal is gunna be crazy, lol. Wow.
So many controversies happened during All-star weekend, it really was a nonstop PR nightmare. It really was like, every player self-sabotaging themselves. Why were there so many journalists there asking about the middle east asking loaded questions to Lebron? Every player got asked about 1 all-star who plays on an also-ran team. That player stunk in the game. Why? The whole weekend might have been good on-court, but was one disaster after another.
Good timeline for the spurs if AE waits after 2027 to go to the hawks. Spurs still own hawks 2026 1st swap and 2027 unprotected 1st, and twolves unprotected 2030 1st
Lol upgrade from Onyeka is funny. The only guys we could upgrade to from him are all-star type guys that aren’t getting traded (much like Onyeka himself).
But anyway the Hawks are set up very nicely for the future, whether we want to make a big deal for a guy like Ant or if we just want to keep the core of Jalen, Onyeka, Dice, Kuminga, Nickeil, Zacch, upcoming top5 pick developing together. But one thing we are not set up well for is success in the present, bc our team rebounding is among the worst in the league. Idk what the #s currently are but we have to be the worst non-tanking rebounding team. We didn’t do much to remedy that at the deadline outside of gettin Jock & Kuminga, so hopefully those guys are big time rebounders. Pretty sure Jock isn’t so maybe JK will (he wont). It will be very exciting/interesting to see how Jalen & Kuminga mix over the rest of the season. He should thrive in our system, similar to Jalen & Dice.
As far as Ant it’s been extremely widely known for the longest that Ant wants to play here & will eventually do so. Wolves front office has continually done everything that he’s wanted them to do though & along with them being 1 of the best teams in the league it’s made it impossible for him to leave or even want to leave. If there is ever any fracture in that relationship he’s gone though & if they falter in the playoffs this yr he could ask out this summer. He’s the fav athlete of almost every youngster in the city & def would set the city on fire if he demanded a trade. All that being said I would very much hesitate to give up that top5 (Pels or Bucks) pick in a trade for him or anybody. In large part bc we’d have enough to get him even without giving that pick up.
Risacher, Dice, Asa & 4 1sts should just about do it
I would say the Hawks could use an upgrade at center off the bench if Atlanta can actually get a guy that can get a lot of rebounds (someone like Mitchell Robinson). Onyeka has turned into one of the best stretch centers in the league. A more traditional center coming off the bench would give the Hawks a different look and make up for the lack of size.
Risacher has averaged 24 mpg in his career and gets minutes like a 7th man at best even though he is a starter. Him starting isn’t a problem when he doesn’t play heavy minutes. Getting a longer wing that can defend would be good though.
Ant in Atlanta would be electric and I would be willing to offer anything NOT Jalen, NAW, Kuminga, and the 2026 NO/MIL pick (not allof the Hawks picks though). These players probably intrigue Anthony Edwards the most. The Hawks would still have enough flexibility to get some upgrades and fill in their losses from a possible Edwards trade. Jalen Johnson is literally earning $30 million for the next 4 years. There shouldn’t be much of a problem.
AE to ATL sounds like a fantasy. Sure he thinks it would be cool, but his $200M four years remaining contract will be hard to move and the team that holds that contract has a lot of power to determine where he plays. Minnesota does not seem like they are interested in any such thing. That was just some young men jawing.
His contract is extremely easy to move what are you talking about. Hawks could match his salary in any # of ways.