Hawks send Kobe Bufkin to Nets for cash

The Hawks have decided to move on from former first-round pick Kobe Bufkin, sending him to the Nets in exchange for $110,000 in cash, per Shams Charania of ESPN and Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.

Bufkin, the No. 15 overall pick in 2023, never really found his footing in Atlanta. Injuries piled up — a fractured thumb, a sprained toe, then season-ending shoulder surgery in December — and he appeared in just 27 games over two years.

He averaged 5.0 points and 2.0 rebounds in 11.9 minutes while shooting 37 percent from the field. He turns 22 on Sunday.

For Brooklyn, this is a low-risk swing on upside. They have the cap room to absorb his $4.5 million salary, which pushes them above the league’s salary floor for now.

The Nets will also need to decide by Oct. 31 whether to exercise Bufkin’s $6.9 million team option for 2026-27.

Of course, adding Bufkin makes a roster crunch even tighter. Brooklyn is set to carry 15 guaranteed contracts and at least four more on partial or non-guaranteed deals once the trade is official, with Ricky Council IV also on the way. That means cuts are coming before opening night.

The Hawks, meanwhile, create a $4.5 million trade exception and gain some breathing room under the tax line.

They also clear a roster spot for one of their camp players, with just 10 guaranteed deals currently on the books.