The Hawks were viewed by prognosticators as perhaps the NBA’s worst team entering the 2018/19 season, and while they still didn’t crack the 30-win mark, they exceeded their modest expectations and flashed some intriguing long-term potential. With a handful of core pieces already in place, Atlanta has the draft assets and the cap flexibility to keep adding more this offseason.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Hawks financially, as we continue our Offseason Salary Cap Digest series for 2019:
Guaranteed Salary
Kent Bazemore ($19,269,662): Exercised player option- Miles Plumlee ($12,500,000)
- Trae Young ($6,273,000)
- Alex Len ($4,160,000)
- Taurean Prince ($3,481,986)
- John Collins ($2,686,560)
- Kevin Huerter ($2,636,280)
- DeAndre’ Bembry ($2,603,982)
- Omari Spellman ($1,897,800)
- Jaylen Adams ($100,000) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below. 1
- Total: $55,609,270
Player Options
- None
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Deyonta Davis ($1,645,357)
- Jaylen Adams ($1,316,852) 1
- Total: $2,962,209
Restricted Free Agents
- Justin Anderson ($3,625,625 qualifying offer / $7,548,144 cap hold): Bird rights
- Isaac Humphries ($1,643,842 qualifying offer / $1,643,842 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Alex Poythress (two-way qualifying offer / $1,443,842 cap hold): Non-Bird rights 2
- Total: $10,635,828
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Dewayne Dedmon ($9,360,000): Early Bird rights
- No. 5 overall pick ($6,392,760) 3
- No. 9 overall pick ($4,463,400) 3
- Vince Carter ($1,618,486): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $18,067,328
Projected Salary Cap: $109,000,000
Projected Tax Line: $132,000,000
Offseason Cap Outlook
- Realistic cap room projection: $41.64MM
- The Hawks have nine players on fully guaranteed contracts for 2019/20. If they simply keep those players plus both of their first-round picks, then renounce or waive the rest of their players, this would be their cap room projection. That’s not an unrealistic scenario, since none of Atlanta’s free agents are players the team must re-sign.
- The cap holds on the Hawks’ two first-round picks are wild cards here. For instance, if the club lucks out and jump from No. 5 to No. 1, the cap hold for that top pick would increase by more than $3.3MM. That’s a trade-off Atlanta would happily accept though, given the talent available at the very top of the draft. Conversely, if that second first-rounder, from the Mavericks, moves into the top four, it would be protected and Dallas would keep it, creating some extra cap space for the Hawks.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Trade exception: $1,378,242 (expires 2/7/20) 4
- Room exception: $4,760,000 5
Footnotes
- Adams’ salary becomes fully guaranteed after July 19.
- The salaries for two-way players don’t count against a team’s cap, but their cap holds do during the offseason.
- The cap hold for these picks will depend on where they ultimately fall in the lottery. Additionally, if the second pick (currently projected to be No. 9 overall) moves into the top four, the Mavericks will keep it.
- The Hawks will lose this exception if they go under the cap to use room.
- This is a projected value. In the unlikely event that the Hawks remain over the cap, they’d instead gain access to the mid-level exception ($9,246,000) and bi-annual exception ($3,619,000).
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are estimates based on salary cap projections and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.