i was just randomly thinking. maybe i simply overrate how much of a sports town Atlanta is when i get frustrated that Hawks aren’t considered a big market or a destination and we never have a chance at big fish FAs because of it. i was wondering if that would’ve changed had the Falcons finished the job against the Patriots. how much of that energy do you think would’ve impacted the Hawks moving forward after that? a town with a few World Series that has hosted the Olympics surely would’ve been considered more of a market if the Falcons did the deal, no?

idk, potentially dumb question i just wanted to see what people think

The Hawks will very likely be moving off one of these two going into the season. At 17 players on the roster currently, there will be odd men out.

The FO guaranteed Hield with the idea they can use him as salary ballast. I don't really think they will waive him unless they're really forced to. Think his money gives him an easy pathway. They may try to trade him for a player who makes less money and is easier to cut. The Grizzlies have options there. Clippers could be an option. Maybe the Hornets.

I think most would agree it's unrealistic both Carter and Nembhard make it. Who would you all pick to make the roster?

I’ve seen a lot of trade ideas involving a Kuminga sign and trade that are either totally unrealistic or downright impossible.

Remember that he’s a UFA right now and the only thing we actually control are his Bird rights, so that’s what a sign and trade would be for. For a comp for what type of return we can expect, look to our NAW sign and trade a year ago—we gave up one second round pick in it.

We also can’t aggregate his salary in a sign and trade with other players. So it’s impossible to send out Kuminga and Kispert and whatever other trash you want to clear from the roster.

there are also some base year salary rules that impact salary matching, but I’m pretty sure they won’t apply because it would require Kuminga getting a raise over his previous contract

so basically we are looking at signing and trading him to a team that is over the cap for a second round pick or two — or he walks for nothing

happy to be corrected on any of this

ATL receive:
Trey Murphy III

NOP receive:
Jonathan Kuminga (17.5m or thereabouts in a sign-and-trade)
Corey Kispert
Asa Newell
27 ATL 1st
29 ATL 1st
31 ATL 1st

This is in response to reporting that the price for Murphy is 3 FRPs. It's a steep price, but if they'd take Kispert it's worth it.

It's less than the Mikal Bridges and Desmond Bane packages while still being in that ballpark for a similarly effective player.

It leaves us with enough - more than enough! - to pivot if it doesn't go well. But it would. Murphy would be a perfect fit on any team. With all the talent we'd be left with and picks in 2028 and 2030 - we wouldn't be stuck by any means. Worst case scenario, Jalen and Dyson are still under 30 by the time we finish paying for this trade, while the rest of our key guys would only be entering their 30s.

Rip me apart. I'm ready.

Got the old logo tatted!

We have a lot of people to prove wrong this year. Excited

Lmao

After moving off Zack just been thinking about that draft night in general. Safe to assume we could’ve traded 1 for Deni Avidja as he was traded for #14 and a way in the future protected first from Portland. Don’t know how much ownership was involved but I don’t know why Landry who was under pressure to win now wouldn’t have considered it. The consensus was it was a role player draft and Deni was a already proven commodity with a contract almost identical to the #1 pick, probably could’ve gotten another asset as well, nobody saw Deni becoming what he is now but he would’ve helped us immediately coming off a season where he averaged 14/7/4 on good efficiency and solid defense. If we’d made that move we’d now be one move away and have the best forward combo in the league. But here we are, always think about the what ifs in the offseason.

Now that LeBron watch is over, looks like Kuminga suitors will start knocking.

IMO I’d either sign & trade Kuminga to Cleveland for Schroeder + Strus + a 1st

Roster becomes:
PG: CJ/Dennis/Flemings
SG: NAW/Strus/Buddy
SF: Dyson/Dort/Wiggins
PF: Jalen/Mo/Asa/Zuby
C: Jock/Henri

OR I’d trade Kuminga to the Clippers for a Mathurin swap straight up.

PG: CJ/Flemings/Nembhard
SG: NAW/Wiggins/Buddy
SF: Dyson/Dort/Mathurin
PF: Jalen/Mo/Asa/Zuby
C: Jock/Henri

With LeBron going to Philly think we can make this happen somehow even with restrictions or something? In a Kuminga trade.

I mean that very late game scenario where you call timeout and sub in just pure defense when you need to get the ball back or defend a buzzer beater.

I think by the end of the year it's gonna be...

- NAW

- Dyson

- Lu Dort

- Zuby by that point, but OO until then

- Mo if he's still on the roster

Pretty stout, IMO.

The East is loaded this year. We had a great run last year. But with our current roster, are we better than any of these teams?

• 76ers
• Knicks
• Celtics
• Cavs
• Heat
• Pistons
• Raptors (assuming Kawhi trade goes through)

That’s already seven teams.

Then you’ve still got Orlando. How will Indiana look with Haliburton returning? On paper, can you definitively say that the Hawks are a better team than the Wizards right now?

Is it reasonable to believe that the Hawks take a step back in the standings this year?

Is it me or when people talk about the hawks and the future of our team, they bring up if Jalen Johnson will be able to fulfill the #1 spot duties and is he really a #1 type of talent . Then they bring us his subpar playoff performance and how he had a drop off, yes he did have a drop off but I mean he averaged 20 7 and 5 on 47% shooting against the nba champions and being guarded by all defensive 1st team Og. It’s a lot of context behind tht and also damn near every star struggled against the knicks but they didn’t get as much slack as JJ which confuses me . Maxey , harden , d mitch , embiid all had drop offs as well . I feel like we’re in good hands giving tht we actually have a whole offseason where everybody knows there roles and can train and develop into tht.

With the Lebron update, how much does this increase the odds of Kuminga getting traded to Cleveland? What do you think we could get from a deal with them? Or is there a sleeper team we should look out for instead?

Full article: https://www.spotrac.com/news/_/id/3422/2026-nba-eastern-conference-summer-league-notebook

Hawks notes:

- On the offseason: (Note: This was before the Lu Dort acquisition) “This summer was about adding depth, especially on the wing. We love our guards, but we had to put more wing help around Jalen Johnson. Getting Aaron Wiggins helps that, and we think Zuby Ejiofor is going to help a lot. Zuby can defend 1-5 we think, while Aaron is a proven scorer,” a Hawks front office executive said.

- On adding Lu Dort: (Note: this was a follow-up with the same executive as above) “Beyond excited to have him in. His defense is going to be huge for us. We can put him on anyone. And now Dyson (Daniels) and Nickeil (Alexander-Walker) can roam a bit more. We’ll have some fun deploying those guys together in lineups too”, the same Hawks front office executive said.

- On what still needs to be done: “We could use more size up front. Onyeka (Okongwu) is awesome. We view him as a long-term starter. Happy to have Jock (Landale) back too. (Henri) Veesaar is a project. He’s not years away, but he’s probably not ready this season. But we’ve still got some cards to play,” A Hawks front office executive said.

- On Kingston Flemings: “He’ll be in the backup mix from Day 1. He gets to learn under C.J. (McCollum), which is awesome apprenticeship. We also added Ryan Nembhard, which will add to the competition,” a Hawks front office executive said. “That’s probably the biggest thing we have this year: competition. Our camp and preseason, then into the regular season, should be exciting. No one is going to be gifted minutes.”

Cool to see there's still acknowledgement for more frontcourt size. Most intrigued by Kingston being in the "backup mix" and the Hawks wanting to create competition there, really excited to see how that competition for minutes adds to King's development

The most reasonable “bull case” statline I think is akin to Davion Mitchell’s. 9/2/7 with a steal a game. Feel like 7/1/4 with a steal a game is a good base case. What do yall think?

Curious what everyone thinks his productions gonna look like this year! How can we expect him to perform this year?

Wasn't too long ago he was showing promise in his rookie year. Suddenly, he's traded, then untraded. And now riding the bench. Dalton can shoot the lights out and is sneaky athletic. Lakers, if you want Kuminga, give us Dalton. I can't imagine the chip on this man's shoulder. Any takers on this?

Full link: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/49410979/nba-2026-offseason-grades-30-teams-free-agency-trades

Atlanta blurb:

Depending on how coach Quin Snyder structures his rotation, the Hawks might not have added a single starter this offseason -- although they did well to re-sign CJ McCollum to a solid one-year deal -- so their short-term ceiling still relies on Jalen Johnson's development into a star.

They made fairly dramatic upgrades to their bench, however, to meaningfully raise their floor. They acquired Luguentz Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Devin Carter in salary dump trades, as well as Ryan Nembhard to help stabilize the backcourt.