Atlanta Hawks Decline Team Option on Dominick Barlow Making Him An Unrestricted Free Agent

With this move, the Hawks now have ten players on their roster:

Trae Young
Kristaps Porzingis
Jalen Johnson
Onyeka Okongwu
Zaccharie Risacher
Dyson Daniels
Kobe Bufkin
Asa Newell
Vit Krejci
Mouhamed Gueye

Barlow had an interesting season this year with the Atlanta Hawks, and so did the team, as they were without many of their starting forwards and centers for the season, leading to Barlow having to start in a career-high four games and playing 35 total. While playing in the 35 games this season, Barlow averaged 4.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, 0.5 blocks, 0.3 steals on 53.1/25.9/63.6 shooting splits and (10.7 minutes per game).

Based on his production with the team, while it wasn't exactly eye-popping, Barlow did offer some help in an otherwise ideal situation for the Hawks, as he was serviceable with Trae Young in the pick-and-roll as well as fastbreaks and played hard.

Our own Rohan Roman gave Dominick Barlow a grade for the season and an overall outlook on his play this season:

"When the Hawks signed Dominick Barlow to a two-way contract, it was always a move intended to pay future dividends. They felt strongly enough about what they saw this season to upgrade his contract from a two-way into a multi-year deal. He has a $2.27 million dollar team option for next season and he'll be a restricted free agent in 2026-27. Therefore, all indications are that he will be back in the Hawks' center rotation next year.

Based on what he showed this year, was that a smart decision by the Hawks?

The answer is a bit complicated. With the highest USG% of his career, Barlow set a career-high in TS% (58%) and BLK% (3.9%) while also cutting down his TOV% to 3.9%. He consistently fought for rebounds and the flashes of being a force on the boards showed up in certain games. He had 13 points and 10 rebounds against the 76ers towards the end of the season and also had 15 points in the Hawks' season finale against the Magic. Furthermore, he did a solid job working off of Trae Young. In the 215 minutes he played with the star point guard, Young's numbers rose to 26.7 points on an excellent 60.2 TS%. Barlow's own numbers rose to a very solid 15.4 points and 8.5 rebounds albeit on 59.4 TS% per Databallr. To be clear, that number requires a lot of context. Barlow frequently played in garbage time for the Hawks and it's still a very small sample size.

That being said, Barlow is nowhere near the defender he needs to be at this stage. They gave him minutes because Larry Nance Jr and Clint Capela were both unavailable down the stretch and both of those guys are much more reliable as rim protectors and defensive anchors. His defense was a weak point in his game coming into the season, but he frankly looked overmatched in most of his time on the court. There were flashes of being a switchable defender against teams like the Hornets, but he still needs to work on being more consistent in that area. Fortunately, he is only 21 years old and there's reason to believe he can improve with more time in Atlanta's system."

More Atlanta Hawks News:

Atlanta Hawks Free Agency and Offseason Tracker: Live Updates, News, Rumors and More

Hawks General Manager Onsi Saleh gives Positive Injury Update for Jalen Johnson

Atlanta Hawks Officially Announce 2025 NBA Summer League Schedule