The Atlanta Hawks finally traded John Collins after years of rumors around the high-flying forward, but didn’t get much in return for him. Utah absorbed most of Collins’ deal into cap space, sending only Rudy Gay and a future second round pick back for him.
It was a salary dump for the Hawks, putting them back under the luxury tax line as they get set for the offseason to begin in earnest, but they are still expected to be very active making more trades. They struck out on moving up to the 10th pick in last week’s Draft, and there have been rumors tying them to the pursuit of Pascal Siakam (thus far with no real traction). That hasn’t dissuaded them from continuing to shop around, with Adrian Wojnarowski and Jake Fischer bringing updates on Tuesday that the Hawks have basically made all of their veterans available outside of Trae Young — while looking to do another round of contract extensions for Dejounte Murray and Onyeka Okongwu.
The Hawks have many veteran players available in trade discussions, per @wojespn:
“Virtually everybody among their veterans, except for Trae Young, have really been part of {trade talks} for the Hawks.”
Two players who fit this criteria are Clint Capela and De’Andre Hunter.… pic.twitter.com/xQ03Urkc9b
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) June 27, 2023
That means De’Andre Hunter, Clint Capela, and Bogdan Bogdanovic are all on the table, with all three in the midst of longterm deals. Hunter, in particular, has found his way into a number of rumors, with Fischer reporting the Hawks had discussions with Indiana and Detroit prior to the Draft and could rekindle those talks as they look to move off of Hunter’s 4-year, $90 million extension.
The Hawks have also been active in conversations about trade opportunities for De’Andre Hunter … We’ll see if any of Atlanta’s other loose threads of trade talks, like the Hawks’ draft week negotiations with the Pistons and Pacers regarding Hunter, can regain momentum.
As for what the Hawks could get back for Hunter, it’s hard to quite figure out what his value is on a $90 million deal that’s just kicking in this year. Atlanta was hoping to see Hunter take a leap at some point, but he has more or less remained the same player he’s been since entering the league. The Hawks won’t want a Hunter deal to look like another salary dump, but it’s pretty clear there are financial pressures at play in shopping him as actively as they have been.
The mandate, per Woj, is for the Hawks to make roster improvements, but there’s not exactly a clear path to doing so with a lack of draft assets to move after sending so many to San Antonio a year ago for Murray. Still, expect the Hawks to keep making deals to try and shuffle the deck around Young, and hope that Quin Snyder can bring out a different level in the team they assemble for him this summer.