Hawks Join Nets in Exploring Draft Trade-Up from Mid-to-Late First-Round Picks

Four days ago, Jake Fischer reported that the Brooklyn Nets would have competition in their quest to add a second lottery pick. Fischer named the Oklahoma City Thunder and Orlando Magic as likely adversaries, but today, a new team has joined the discussion.

In a follow-up on The Stein Line, Fischer reveals that the Atlanta Hawks are now in pursuit of a top-14 pick.

“[The] Hawks will fall right in line with Oklahoma City, Orlando and Brooklyn as teams with multiple picks in the mid-to-late first round exploring various avenues to move up the draft board,“ Fischer wrote.

Atlanta—who earned the top selection in last year's draft, eventually taking Zachharie Risacher—does not currently own its lottery pick from their trade for Dejounte Murray in 2022. Murray has since departed, now a member of the New Orleans Pelicans, but the Hawks still possess pick 13 via the Sacramento Kings.

In addition to pick 13, Atlanta has pick 22 to package alongside the lottery selection, but is that duo more worthwhile than what Brooklyn can offer?

Likely not. Should the Nets opt to keep all of their first-rounders this year, they'd have the most of any draft by any team. That creates tons of flexiblity for GM Sean Marks to work with, and is certainly the reason why Brooklyn is exploring a trade-up.

There had been rumblings of the Nets using Cam Johnson—with one of the later first-rounders attached—to try and pry pick 9 or 10 away from the Toronto Raptors or Houston Rockets. That package is immediately better than what Atlanta possesses, unless it would be willing to part with both picks plus a young, impactful player.

I still believe Oklahoma City has a leg up on everyone, given that they have plenty of young talent and draft assets despite being the Western Conference's representative in the NBA Finals. The Thunder have valuable pieces that don't even see the floor due to how stacked their roster is. Now that's flexibility.

Not to say Brooklyn's offers won't be strong, it's just hard to imagine Atlanta being able to come up with anything that surpasses (or even matches) what the Nets or Thunder can put together.

The NBA Draft is slated for June 25 at 8 p.m. EST.