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Apr 10, 2025; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) controls the ball against the Brooklyn Nets during the third quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images Brad Penner-Imagn Images

After a Flurry of Offseason Moves, Is the Hawks' Offense Going to be One of the NBA's Best?

Originally posted on Atlanta Hawks on SI
By Jackson Caudell | Last updated Aug 31, 2025 8:08 AM ET

While they have had Trae Young leading the helm, the Hawks have always been a good offensive team, sometimes even among the league's best. While they were not bad on that end of the court last season, they were far from elite either. While the focus over the past two offseasons has been on surrounding Young with lengthy, athletic defenders, Atlanta has needed better shooting, and they did a terrific job of adding high-level shooters that should make this offense dangerous.

One of the league's best?

Where exactly should the Hawks offense rank after this offseason? Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz gave them a B+ in a recent article:

Reasons to Thrive:

"A healthy Trae Young and Jalen Johnson led to a strong offense for the Atlanta Hawks last season (118.3 rating in 2,001 possessions together, 78th percentile). The addition of Kristaps Porziņģis as a floor-spacing center gives the team a new dimension after moving on from Clint Capela.

Zaccharie Risacher averaged 16.1 points on 52.1 percent shooting overall over his final 16 games of his rookie season and Dyson Daniels made a big offensive leap in his first season in Atlanta."

Reasons to Struggle:

"Atlanta ranked dead last in isolation scoring last season (0.79 points per possession) and lost Caris LeVert in free agency to the Detroit Pistons.

Porziņģis is great, but only helps when he's actually on the court, which has been an average of just 50.1 games over his 10-year career."

High Potential

Health is certainly their biggest question mark, but it is hard not to like the potential of this offense.

Jalen Johnson is back and appeared to have made a leap last season, Zaccharie Risacher has shown flashes of high-level shooting ability and has looked strong in this year's EuroBasket, and Porzingis gives this team an element they have not had, which is an elite seven-foot pick and pop player alongside Young. Pick and rolls with Young and Porzingis have the potential to be among the league's best this season.

Porziņģis averaged 19.5 points, shooting a career-best .412% from three-point territory, 6.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 blocks in 28.8 minutes during the 2024-25 season (.483 FG%, .809 FT%). His .412% from deep ranked 25th in the NBA last season amongst all players and was the second-highest clip amongst all 7-footers, trailing only Karl-Anthony Towns.

He knocked down a career-high tying eight three-pointers twice during the 2024-25 season (Jan. 29 vs. Chicago, April 8 at New York), the only 7-footer in the league to have multiple games with at least eight three-pointers. He owns four career outings with eight made triples, the only 7-footer in league history to have four such games.

Over the course of his nine-year career, Porziņģis has appeared in 501 games (500 starts), owning averages of 19.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.8 blocks in 30.8 minutes (.461 FG%, .366 3FG%, .829 FT%). The 2018 NBA All-Star is one of only eight players in NBA history to average at least 19.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks (min. 500 games played) and one of only two active players to do so, joining Anthony Davis. His 1.81 blocks per game currently ranks sixth-best amongst all active NBA players.

With Johnson's return and more elite shooting, this Hawks offense is going to be a lot of fun this upcoming season.