Atlanta Hawks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Hawks’ Okongwu Out At Least Four Games With Knee Inflammation

December 18th, 2024 at 5:31pm CST by Rory Maher

Center Onyeka Okongwu is dealing with left knee inflammation and will be sidelined for at least four games, the Hawks announced in a press release (Twitter link). According to the team, Okongwu will be reevaluated in about a week.

The Hawks will be in San Antonio on Thursday for a road game against the Spurs before returning home to Atlanta for a four-game homestand. Okongwu will miss Thursday’s contest and the first three home games of that stretch (vs. Memphis, Minnesota and Chicago). The earliest he could return would be next Saturday vs. Miami.

Although he’s technically a backup, Okongwu has actually averaged more minutes per game (23.8) than starting center Clint Capela (23.0) in 2024/25. Through 25 games, Okongwu has averaged 11.3 points and 6.6 rebounds, with a shooting line of .542/.244/.779 (he’s a low-volume three-point shooter, having converted 10-of-41 looks from long distance).

Hopefully it’s just a temporary setback for Okongwu, who missed several weeks of action last season due to a left big toe sprain. A former lottery pick (No. 6 overall in 2020), the 24-year-old big man is considered part of Atlanta’s young core. Okongwu’s four-year, $62MM rookie scale extension, which he signed in October 2023, began this season.

Unfortunately, Okongwu isn’t the only player on the roster dealing with an injury, as the Hawks announced earlier on Wednesday that second-year guard Kobe Bufkin will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery.

Reserve big man Larry Nance Jr. will likely rejoin Atlanta’s rotation with Okongwu out.

Hawks Waive Two-Way Player Seth Lundy

December 18th, 2024 at 3:51pm CST by Dana Gauruder

DECEMBER 18: The Hawks have officially waived Lundy, the team announced today in a press release.

DECEMBER 17: The Hawks are waiving two-way guard Seth Lundy, HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto tweets.

Lundy has been sidelined with a left ankle injury and hasn’t appeared in any Hawks games this season.

The 2023 second-round pick out of Penn State saw action in nine games for Atlanta last season but spent the bulk of his time with the College Park Skyhawks in the G League. In those 25 NBAGL games (23 starts), the 6’4″ Lundy averaged 20.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 blocks in 32.6 minutes per contest. He shot 46.2% from the field and 40% on 3-point attempts.

Lundy signed a two-way deal prior to last season and was re-signed to another two-way contract in July. The 24-year-old underwent ankle surgery in mid-May.

The left ankle procedure removed a medial ankle bone spur. He re-aggravated his ankle while working out before a Hawks preseason game. He will be reevaluated in January, according to Scotto.

Kobe Bufkin To Undergo Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

December 18th, 2024 at 2:07pm CST by Luke Adams

Kobe Bufkin will miss the rest of the 2024/25 season, according to the Hawks, who announced today in a press release (Twitter link) that the second-year guard will undergo surgery to address right shoulder instability.

The surgery, which was determined to be the best option for Bufkin after “continued evaluation and additional medical opinions,” will take place on January 7. He’s expected to make a full recovery in time for the start of the 2025/26 season.

The 15th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Bufkin was limited to 17 NBA appearances in his rookie year, having missed a significant chunk of the 2023/24 campaign due to a fractured left thumb and a sprained toe.

He also suited up for 14 games in the G League last season, averaging 23.6 points, 5.9 assists, and 5.4 rebounds in 32.0 minutes per contest for the College Park Skyhawks, with a shooting line of .444/.356/.829.

Bufkin sustained a right shoulder subluxation (ie. a partial dislocation) during a Summer League practice this past July, then suffered the same injury in a practice just before the regular season began. He made his season debut on November 18 and appeared in 10 games this fall, but that shoulder was apparently never 100%, so he and the team have decided to take the surgical route to address it.

The result will be another lost season for Bufkin, who has averaged 5.0 PPG, 2.0 RPG, and 1.6 APG on .374/.220/.654 shooting in 27 total NBA outings (11.9 MPG). Hopefully, the surgery will clear up any lingering issues with the shoulder and allow him to begin his third NBA season fully healthy.

Bufkin is under contract for $4.3MM this season and $4.5MM in 2025/26. The Hawks will have to make a decision by October 31, 2025 on his $6.9MM fourth-year option for the ’26/27 season.

Atlanta will have the ability to apply for a disabled player exception as a result of Bufkin’s season-ending injury. It would be worth half his salary (approximately $2.15MM) and would allow the club to sign a free agent to a rest-of-season contract or to acquire a player on an expiring deal via trade or waiver claim.

Warriors Remain Atop 2024 NBA Franchise Valuations

December 18th, 2024 at 1:08pm CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors remain the NBA’s most valuable team, according to Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico, who unveiled the website’s updated NBA franchise valuations for 2024 on Wednesday.

Badenhausen projects the Warriors’ value at $9.14 billion, making them one of three teams to surpass the $8 billion mark this year. The Knicks have a projected worth of $8.3 billion, while the Lakers come in at $8.07 billion, per Sportico. Only the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys – at $10.3 billion – have a higher valuation than Golden State among North American sports teams, says Badenhausen.

While Sportico’s figures suggest the Warriors, Knicks, and Lakers are worth significantly more than the fourth-place team (the Nets at $5.7 billion), the average value of an NBA franchise is up to $4.6 billion, with no team worth less than $3 billion.

That average has increased by 15% since Sportico released its 2023 valuations last December and has nearly doubled since the site published its first NBA franchise valuations four years ago, when the average was $2.37 billion.

The NBA’s new $77 billion media rights deal and a 15% increase in team sponsorship are among the factors contributing to the rising valuations of the league’s franchises, according to Badenhausen, who notes that a post-COVID boom in concerts and other major events has been good news for team owners who also control their arenas.

NBA team owners operated 10 of the world’s 20 highest-grossing concert venues in 2024, with the Nets’ Barclays Center coming in at No. 1, says Badenhausen. The Nets’ valuation is up 43% this year, per Sportico, easily the largest year-over-year increase among the 30 NBA franchises.

When Forbes put out its NBA franchise valuations in October, it pegged the average value of a team at $4.4 billion. In the past, we’ve used Forbes as our primary source for NBA franchise valuations, but with Badenhausen making the move from Forbes to Sportico in recent years and the outlet establishing itself as a go-to resource for sports business news, we begun highlighting Sportico’s projections as of 2023.

Of course, it’s worth noting that figures from Sportico, Forbes, or any other media outlet are just estimates and often don’t quite match up with the sale prices for franchises that change hands. But these projections are usually in the right ballpark and remain useful for getting a sense of the league’s most and least valuable teams.

Here’s Sportico’s full list of NBA franchise valuations for 2024:

Golden State Warriors: $9.14 billion
New York Knicks: $8.3 billion
Los Angeles Lakers: $8.07 billion
Brooklyn Nets: $5.7 billion
Los Angeles Clippers: $5.68 billion
Boston Celtics: $5.66 billion
Chicago Bulls: $5.56 billion
Miami Heat: $5 billion
Houston Rockets: $4.77 billion
Toronto Raptors: $4.66 billion
Philadelphia 76ers: $4.57 billion
Dallas Mavericks: $4.46 billion
Phoenix Suns: $4.32 billion
Sacramento Kings: $4.11 billion
Atlanta Hawks: $4.07 billion
Denver Nuggets: $4.06 billion
Washington Wizards: $3.98 billion
Cleveland Cavaliers: $3.95 billion
Milwaukee Bucks: $3.91 billion
San Antonio Spurs: $3.79 billion
Indiana Pacers: $3.74 billion
Utah Jazz: $3.67 billion
Portland Trail Blazers: $3.6 billion
Oklahoma City Thunder: $3.55 billion
Orlando Magic: $3.46 billion
Detroit Pistons: $3.45 billion
Charlotte Hornets: $3.39 billion
Minnesota Timberwolves: $3.29 billion
New Orleans Pelicans: $3.09 billion
Memphis Grizzlies: $3.06 billion

As Badenhausen notes, Sportico’s projections are based on a control sale price, rather than limited stake purchases. No NBA franchise saw its majority control change hands in 2024, but that could change in 2025, with control of the Celtics up for sale.

According to Badenhausen, team executives and investors have predicted a sale price ranging from $4.5 billion to $6.5 billion for the Celtics. The final valuation will be determined by a number of factors, including how many bidders are on the mix, what percentage of the team they can buy, and whether current governor Wyc Grousbeck insists on remaining in that role until 2028, which he has indicated is his goal.

The Bucks Players Who Benefited Most From NBA Cup Prize Money

December 18th, 2024 at 7:39am CST by Luke Adams

The Bucks‘ team salary this season is approximately $193MM, which is over the second tax apron and far exceeds the $160.4MM on the Thunder‘s books.

However, only two players on Oklahoma City’s roster are on minimum-salary contracts and just three of 15 Thunder players on standard deals are earning less than $3MM this season. By comparison, Milwaukee has eight players with salaries below $3MM, plus a ninth earning just a hair above $3MM. Seven of those nine players are earning their respective minimums.

While the $514,970 bonus for winning the NBA Cup may be a drop in the bucket for maximum-salary Bucks stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, it represents a significant pay raise for the players on the lower two-thirds of Milwaukee’s cap sheet, as well as the players on two-way contracts who will receive bonuses worth $257,485 apiece.

The NBA Cup prize money results in at least a 17% raise for each of the following Bucks players, whose 2024/25 salaries are noted in parentheses:

Players receiving a $514,970 bonus:

Delon Wright ($3,003,427)
Taurean Prince ($2,988,550)
AJ Johnson ($2,795,294)
MarJon Beauchamp ($2,733,720)
Gary Trent Jr. ($2,613,120)
A.J. Green ($2,120,693)
Andre Jackson ($1,891,857)
Chris Livingston ($1,891,857)
Tyler Smith ($1,157,153)

Players receiving a $257,485 bonus:

Liam Robbins ($578,577)
Ryan Rollins ($578,577)
Stanley Umude ($578,577)

The bonuses for Smith and the Bucks’ two-way players represent a raise of roughly 44.5% on their respective base salaries.

None of this prize money will count against the salary cap, so the Bucks’ team salary for cap, tax, and apron purposes remains unchanged, as do the team salaries for Oklahoma City and the other six clubs who made the knockout round of the IST. Their prize money is as follows:

Oklahoma City Thunder: $205,988 per player ($102,994 for two-way players)
Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets: $102,994 per player ($51,497 for two-ways)
Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Orlando Magic: $51,497 per player ($25,749 for two-ways)

And-Ones: NBA Cup, Timma, Trade Candidates, Flagg

December 17th, 2024 at 10:56am CST by Luke Adams

While the NBA Cup figures to be a regular part of the league’s schedule going forward, there will likely still be some tweaks to the format and the schedule in future seasons, according to stories from Joe Vardon of The Athletic and Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

Managing the schedule for both the knockout round games and the extra regular season contests for teams not in Las Vegas is a challenge, but Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault isn’t thrilled that his team will play a road back-to-back set on Thursday and Friday on the East Coast after its Cup final in Vegas on Tuesday, as Vardon relays.

“We’re basically on a six-day West Coast road trip right now, and our next game coming out of this is three time zones away, four-hour flight to Orlando and then a back-to-back against Miami — which if you look that as a road trip, is an unprecedented road trip,” Daigneault said. “The NBA would never schedule that. They would never put a team a on six-day West Coast road trip, and then fly them east for a back-to-back.”

Besides considering potential scheduling tweaks, the league may explore a new location for the final four of the NBA Cup. According to Vardon, Abu Dhabi’s public investment fund has expressed interest in hosting the event, though that would create more significant scheduling issues. Cities like Mexico City, Nashville, Tampa and San Diego have also inquired about hosting, per Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal.

As for for the format, the NBA and Amazon – which will broadcast the NBA Cup knockout round beginning next season – have discussed possible changes, including possibly moving the tournament later in the regular season, says Bontemps.

Sources who spoke to ESPN cautioned that there’s no guarantee the format will look any different next season, but Bontemps suggests expanding the group-play stage from four games to eight is one idea the NBA may explore, since it would increase the odds of the league’s top teams advancing to the knockout round and create more marquee matchups.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Veteran Latvian forward Janis Timma has been found dead in Moscow, according to a report from the Russian news agency TASS (via Eurohoops), who say that authorities believe it was a suicide. Timma was selected by the Grizzlies with the No. 60 pick of the 2013 draft and had his rights traded to the Magic in 2015 but never signed an NBA contract, having spent most of his career competing in European leagues — in addition to playing in Latvia, Russia, Spain, Greece and Turkey, he also had stints in the G League and in Puerto Rico. Timma won Baltic League and Latvian League titles and was named an All-Star a total of five times in Latvia and Russia.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic has published his first “trade board” of the 2024/25 season, identifying 30 of the most notable players who are candidates to be on the move by February 6. Vecenie’s list is headlined by Jimmy Butler, Zach LaVine, and Cameron Johnson and includes three or more players apiece from the Bulls, Nets, Hawks, Trail Blazers, Wizards, and Jazz.
Jeremy Woo of ESPN (Insider link) spoke to NBA executives and scouts about Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, exploring his strengths and weaknesses, what makes him a unique prospect, and why he’s the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft. Andrei Kirilenko, Jayson Tatum, Franz Wagner, Aaron Gordon and Grant Hill are some of the current and former NBA players Woo’s sources referenced as comparables for Flagg.“I don’t think he’s a generational guy — I think that word started getting used too frequently,” one executive said. “(But) when you look back at this draft, if he goes at 1, regardless of if other people end up better, nobody is going to say that was a bad pick.”

Hawks Notes: NBA Cup, Johnson, Young, Daniels

December 14th, 2024 at 9:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

Poor shooting late in Saturday’s game ended the Hawks‘ surprising run to the NBA Cup semifinals, writes Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta had numerous chances in the fourth quarter with Milwaukee leading by a possession or two, but only managed to go 1-for-7 from the field in the final five minutes. The result was an eight-point loss that sends the Bucks to the finals, but coach Quin Snyder was happy with his team’s effort throughout the tournament.

“I think the story line for me is just how we compete, and that our consistency in that area is the most important thing that I think we have to do to continue to try to build an identity,” Snyder said. “And this was an opportunity this whole tournament, to play in some situations and some games against really good teams, and try to do that. And you find out about yourself. You find out when you’re in a game like this, you’re able to look back and say, we need to do this better. And we did this pretty well.”

Trae Young went on a scoring binge in the third quarter, posting 14 of his 35 points to make the game close. Despite the offensive heroics, Williams states that Young was most proud of his defense, as he repeatedly contested shots whenever Milwaukee tried to target him.

“The defensive end is going to get us where we really want to go, especially when where I want to go,” he said.

There’s more on the Hawks:

Jalen Johnson‘s on-court growth is obvious — as he’s followed last season’s breakout by putting up even better numbers — but he has become a team leader as well, Williams adds in a separate story. Even though Johnson is only 22 and in his fourth NBA season, he has become one of the longest-tenured players on the team and he’s willing to speak up in huddles and provide tips to younger teammates. “I think we’re all a pretty tight-knit group,” he said. “We’re all relatively around the same age. That kind of helps, especially locker room-wise and team chemistry-wise. I think we’re doing a great job of just holding each other accountable. Nobody’s afraid to say anything to each other. We’re all open to constructive criticism. That’s sometimes tough. Everybody has an ego in their own way. We’ve done a great job of just listening to one another, and I think that’s what’s going to help us win at the end of the day.”
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers sees improved chemistry in Atlanta, particularly involving Young, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN. The star guard has been accused throughout his career of being a poor teammate and a weak defender, but he seems to be outgrowing that reputation. “He’s earned the trust of his players,” Rivers said. “This team likes playing with him. That’s obvious. I couldn’t say that in the past, but now they love playing with him.”
Dyson Daniels had no idea he was a candidate to be traded when he got a message from Pelicans general manager Bryson Graham that he had been sent to Atlanta, Jake Fischer writes in a Substack column. Although Daniels was surprised by the news, which was delivered while he was in Australia preparing for the Summer Olympics, the move to the Hawks seemed to unlock his game, putting him in the conversation for Most Improved Player and Defensive Player of the Year. “I wasn’t happy with how I played my first two years in New Orleans,” he said. “I was playing tense. I wasn’t happy with how I was providing for the team. I was fueled by that. I wanted to get back to being myself and playing free.”

And-Ones: Top Front Offices, Daniels, NBA Cup, Rookies

December 13th, 2024 at 9:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Sam Presti and the Thunder were voted as the NBA’s best front office by a panel of 40 executives (team presidents, general managers, VPs, and assistant GMs) across the league who were polled by Sam Amick, John Hollinger, and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

As The Athletic’s trio explains, each respondent picked their top five NBA front offices and points were awarded in the same way they are in the MVP vote – 10 points for first place, seven points for second, five points for third, three points for fourth, and one point for fifth – in order to determine the rankings. The only rule was that execs couldn’t vote for their own team.

The Thunder were a runaway winner with 354 points, showing up on 39 of 40 total ballots and earning 29 first-place votes. The Celtics (250 points; nine first-place votes), Heat (114 points), Grizzlies (64 points; one first-place vote), and Timberwolves (54 points; one first-place vote) rounded out the top five.

A total of 21 front offices received at least one vote. The nine who didn’t were the Lakers, Suns, Kings, Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Bulls, Pistons, Hornets, and Hawks.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Dash Daniels, the younger brother of Dyson Daniels, has committed to joining the Melbourne United as part of the Australian National Basketball League’s Next Stars program, report Shams Charania and Jonathan Givony of ESPN. The younger Daniels, who is considered one of the top international prospects of the 2026 draft class, is considered a standout defender like his brother, having averaged a tournament-high 3.6 steals per game at this year’s FIBA U17 World Cup.
NBA executive VP of basketball strategy Evan Wasch referred to Las Vegas as a “fantastic home” for the NBA Cup semifinals and final, but indicated this week in a Zoom call that the league isn’t necessarily committed to Vegas as the in-season tournament’s long-term host. “We’re very open to all sorts of different formats for the future,” Wasch said, per Mark Medina of Sportskeeda. “That could mean taking the tournament on the road. It could mean taking it to different markets in the U.S. It could mean exploring international markets. It could mean, for example, having the semifinals in home markets like we have for the quarterfinals to build into the local fandom and exciting arena atmospheres. I would say everything is on the table for the future.”
While most of the top picks in the 2024 draft haven’t come flying out of the gate this fall, there are plenty of second-rounders and undrafted free agents from the ’24 class who are making positive early impressions. John Hollinger of The Athletic highlights several of them, including Jazz forward/center Kyle Filipowski, Suns big man Oso Ighodaro, and Grizzlies wing Jaylen Wells.
The Athletic’s NBA writers identified the biggest need for all 30 teams, with good health coming up for a handful of clubs, including the Sixers, Bucks, and Magic.

Hawks Notes: Bogdanovic, Young, Risacher, Daniels, NBA Cup

December 13th, 2024 at 12:10pm CST by Rory Maher

While the Hawks are excited by their young core of Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu and Zaccharie Risacher, they’re also willing to listen to trade offers for their veterans given their place in the standings, sources tell Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Insider link). Atlanta is currently 14-12, the No. 7 seed in the East, and in the play-in mix for the fourth consecutive season.

According to Bontemps, one player opposing teams are intrigued by is Bogdan Bogdanovic, who is in his fifth season with the Hawks. The 32-year-old Serbian will earn $17.3MM in 2024/25, followed by $16MM in ’25/26, with a $16MM team option for ’26/27.

Here’s more on the Hawks:

In the same subscriber-only story, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reports that star guard Trae Young hosted Daniels and Risacher for a “multiday training and bonding session” at his offseason home in Oklahoma after the Olympics concluded over the summer, which his younger teammates “greatly appreciated.” Young can be introverted at times, and the Hawks have been working with him to improve his leadership skills, according to Windhorst. The team has been encouraged by the advancements Young has made in that area, though Windhorst cautions it’s still a “work in progress.”
French wing Risacher says he’s thrilled he was drafted by Atlanta, he tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “The best thing about being the No. 1 pick was to be able to get into this franchise, the Atlanta Hawks,” Risacher said. “That is the best thing that could ever happen. Me in terms of basketball, I’m super super-grateful to be here in this organization.”
The Hawks are pleased with the strides Risacher has made during his rookie campaign, as Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal Constitution writes. “He’s the No. 1 pick for a reason,” Young said. “You’re not put in that position or blessed to be in that position if you haven’t been through a lot or seen a lot, or even capable of handling that type of stuff. And you can see that he’s just capable of handling a lot of the things that come his way. He’s taken every night serious the way he approaches the game. He’s been locked in, even though some nights the shots are not falling the way he expects or we expect them to, he still finds other ways to impact our team and help us. And that just shows how good of a player he is.”
Speaking to Tommy Alter on The Young Man and The Three podcast (YouTube link), Daniels says he’s happy he was traded by the Pelicans to the Hawks over the offseason, calling it a “fresh start.” “In New Orleans, I had so much built up in me mentally and physically. I was scared to do anything,” Daniels said, per HoopsHype. “But this year, I’m playing free. I’m being myself, going out there and making plays. I always knew I could do it—it was just about letting it out.”
The Hawks have been playing excellent basketball since they got to full strength, going 7-1 over their past eight games, with victories over Cleveland (twice), Boston and Milwaukee. As Chris Herring of ESPN notes, Atlanta’s latest win over the Knicks gave the Hawks a berth in the semifinals of the NBA Cup. Jared Weiss of The Athletic takes a look at how Atlanta has improved over the past few weeks, with Young and Johnson spearheading a balanced offensive attack.

NBA Cup Semifinals Set; Sunday Games Scheduled For Eliminated Teams

December 12th, 2024 at 6:41am CST by Luke Adams

Following Atlanta’s and Houston’s wins in Wednesday’s NBA Cup quarterfinal matchups, the semifinals for the NBA’s second annual in-season tournament have been set, with the Hawks, Bucks, Rockets, and Thunder advancing to the final four.

Both games will be played on Saturday, December 14, and the matchups and tip-off times are as follows, per the league (Twitter link):

Atlanta Hawks vs. Milwaukee Bucks (3:30 pm Central time)
Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (7:30 pm CT)

Both games will be played at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with the winners squaring off in the NBA Cup final on Tuesday.

Players on the team that win the NBA Cup will be awarded $514,970 apiece in prize money, while bonuses for the runner-up team will be worth $205,988 apiece and the semifinal losers will receive $102,994 each. In each instance, the bonuses for players on two-way contracts will be worth half that amount.

Players on the Knicks, Magic, Warriors, and Mavericks will receive bonuses of $51,497 apiece ($25,749 for two-way players) after being eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Those four teams have also had an extra game added to their regular season schedules to ensure they get the necessary 82. Those games will be played on Sunday, Dec. 15 and are as follows:

New York Knicks at Orlando Magic (5:00 pm CT)
Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors (7:30 pm CT)

Since both Dallas and Golden State played on the road in the NBA Cup knockout round, the Mavericks will be the unlucky team that ends up with 42 road games and 40 home games on its schedule this season, since they were the lower-seeded quarterfinalist. The Magic played on the road in the quarterfinals, while the Knicks lost at home, so the home/road schedules for the Eastern clubs will be evenly balanced.