How Free Agency Changed the Atlanta Hawks Playoff Outlook

Last week was arguably the busiest week of the NBA offseason and the landscape across the entire league has changed, but I would argue that of the two conferences, no conference has changed quite like the Eastern Conference and the Atlanta Hawks may not be a benefactor in that.

The Hawks were one of the stories of the second part of the 2025-2026 season, going 20-6 after the All-Star Break and earning their first playoff berth since 2023 and avoiding the play-in tournament since 2021. Some of the main players who helped them achieve that, such as CJ McCollum, Jock Landale, Jonthan Kuminga, and Mouhamed Gueye were set to be free agents or had team options which could allow them to become free agents.

Atlanta opted to bring McCollum, Landale, and Gueye back, while declining Kuminga's option, but still keeping the possibility of a return open. The two trades that Atlanta made were not headliners, acquiring Aaron Wiggins from the Oklahoma City Thunder for a pair of second round picks and then acquiring Devin Carter and a second round pick from the Kings.

Barring an unforeseen major move that shakes things up, it appears that Atlanta is content with running it back with the team they had and hoping that the team you saw got 20-6 after the All-Star Break and then lead the future NBA champion New York Knicks 2-1 in their first round series.

But as I said earlier, the Eastern Conference has gotten much better around the Hawks and that is going to make getting inside the top six even harder.

Eastern Conference look ahead

Let's take a look at the Eastern Conference and see how the Hawks playoff outlook has changed over the last couple of weeks.

The Knicks are the defending champions and coming off one of the most dominant playoff runs of all time. It is hard to repeat and Mitchell Robinson left in free agency to join Boston, but this team is going to be the conference favorite for a reason. They have arguably the best starting five in the sport and will be expected to get back to the Finals.

Philadelphia made the Eastern Conference semifinals this past season, but they appear to be loading up for a big run in 2026-2027. The 76ers flipped Paul George for Jaylen Brown and are in pursuit of LeBron James to join their team, not to mention adding Anfernee Simons and Dean Wade to the team. If they add James, they might be considered the Knicks equal.

Toronto is another team that made a big trade, acquiring Kawhi Leonard from the Los Angeles Clippers and after a surprise season and feisty playoff run, Toronto should be a contender.

The best player that moved teams was Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was traded to Miami. The Heat have work to do to fill out the rest of its roster, but just having an MVP caliber player like Antetokounmpo on their team will make the Heat an interesting team.

While those are the teams that made big moves, teams like Detroit, Cleveland, Boston, and Orlando are still very talented and going to be in the mix as well, not to mention Charlotte and potentially Washington.

Does this mean those teams are automatically better than the Hawks? No, but it does illustrate that just because they finished in the top six of the Eastern Conference last season, they are not guaranteed anything next season because the East got better.

Free agency has reinforced the belief that the Hawks like their team and how it was put together after the trade deadline and they want to give this team a full season to see how they grow and develop, especially the core of Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Onyeka Okongwu, not to mention the three rookies the Hawks just drafted.