NBA insider sheds light on Atlanta Hawks offseason plans

With the sour taste of what happened over the final three games against the New York Knicks slowly beginning to fade, the focus now shifts to what could be a franchise-altering offseason for the Atlanta Hawks.

It starts a week from today with the NBA Draft Lottery. The Hawks own an unprotected first-round selection (most favorable of New Orleans/Milwaukee), giving them a 43.2% chance at a top-four pick and nearly a 10% chance at the No. 1 overall selection.

Given the number of potential stars available at the top of this draft, a little luck could quite literally change the entire trajectory of the franchise.

The draft is just one piece of the puzzle, however. The Hawks have some critical decisions to make on a couple of their own free agents in CJ McCollum and Jonathan Kuminga, both of whom were acquired ahead of this year’s trade deadline. The two were integral to Atlanta’s surprising surge over the second half of the season, but the way it ended could have the Hawks second-guessing whether to keep this group together and essentially run it back with the addition of a top draft pick.

McCollum is an unrestricted free agent, and Kuminga has a $24.3 million club option for next season. The two combined to make over $54 million this past year, so moving off both would give Atlanta plenty of room to maneuver this summer.

What doesn’t appear to be on the table — at least according to NBA insider Jake Fischer — is a blockbuster trade for a marquee name that reshapes the Hawks’ current core.

“Yet I’ve received no indication to this point that the Hawks have designs on pursuing Antetokounmpo via trade this summer,” Fischer writes for The Stein Line. “Sources say that Atlanta is not eager to splurge for major roster additions, preferring to focus on internal improvement and addressing the futures of CJ McCollum and Jonathan Kuminga along with coach Quin Snyder (who has only one season left on his current contract).

“My early read is that Atlanta’s disastrous Game 6 home loss to the Knicks, which stunningly saw the Hawks fall behind 72-22, is unlikely to change Atlanta’s approach. I spent quite a bit of time around the Hawks during the New York series and came away with the distinct impression that team officials are encouraged by Atlanta’s second-half improvement and buoyed by the measured approach they feel they took in revamping the roster by trading away former All-Stars Young and Kristaps Porziņģis in January and February.”

In the NBA, there’s a fine line between acting too quickly and waiting too long until assets start to lose value. The Hawks just experienced that with Trae Young. A few years ago, they could have demanded a haul of first-round picks along with high-quality young players in a trade. Instead, they essentially salary-dumped him to the Wizards, failing to land even a single first-round selection.

Right now, the Hawks are in a position that most franchises around the league are trying to reach. They don’t have any bad contracts on the books, already feature a solid core that’s proven capable of making the playoffs, own a valuable draft pick, and have plenty of financial flexibility to pursue just about anyone this offseason.

This current group is probably further away from championship contention than most fans would like to admit. The final three games of the season made that clear. But given the age of the roster and the number of quality first-round picks the Hawks control over the next two years, there’s no reason to push all the chips in right now. Keep stockpiling talent, and let the rest take care of itself.