CBS Sports calls Atlanta Hawks ‘losers’ of NBA offseason

Depending on who you ask, the Atlanta Hawks are either having a bad offseason or they are rebuilding their roster in a way that better suits Trae Young, even if they aren’t NBA title contenders. I’m in the latter group, but not everyone is. In a recent ranking of the winners and losers of the NBA offseason, CBS Sports’ Brad Botkin ranked the Hawks among the offseason losers:

“I initially had the Hawks as a winner this summer because the return on Dejounte Murray was pretty good considering their lack of leverage and Murray’s market depreciation, but upon reflection, the Hawks are still operating off a significant amount of debt.

The 2025 first-round pick they got from New Orleans for Murray came from the Lakers, and the 2027 pick will be the worse of the two, the Bucks or the Pelicans. All of those teams are looking pretty good in the near future, so it’s unlikely Atlanta got a high-value pick.

The three picks they gave up for Murray initially were very valuable, though. They were the Hawks’ own picks, and without them, they have no reason to settle for a higher draft pick. They don’t control their own first-round pick until 2028.

Sure, Dyson Daniels is a guard and Zaccharie Risacher was the No. 1 overall pick, but even that pick comes with a caveat: It’s universally considered one of the weakest drafts of this century. If Risacher turns out to be a star, then this summer will be a success. But it could be a gamble, and right now the Hawks are still a play-in team at best with no way to trade Trae Young who could really turn things around. The Hawks have done well in the position they put themselves in, but this feels more like a loss-cutting than a true winning summer. Atlanta is in a tough spot.”

I think that’s a fair analysis, because not having their own picks is hurting the Hawks. The Eastern Conference has gotten tougher this summer, and it’s going to be a challenge for the Hawks to make the playoffs, though it’s not impossible. You could argue that Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Orlando, Cleveland, Indiana, and Miami are all better than Atlanta right now, but the Hawks could still have some moves to make. I think if things go right, the Hawks could be better than some of those teams, but it’s far from a given.

The bottom of the East (Brooklyn, Washington, Detroit, Charlotte, and Chicago) is terrible, and Atlanta is arguably better than Miami and Toronto. While the Hawks weren’t great last year, they were also one of the unluckiest teams in terms of injuries. With better injury luck and a roster that makes sense around Young, it’s not out of the question for Atlanta to be a top-six team in the East, especially if the other teams don’t make the jump they expected (Indiana and Orlando). Jalen Johnson should only continue to improve, Onyeka Okongwu could finally get a chance to start, and the Hawks’ defense should be much better than last season.

ESPN’s Chris Herring ranked each Eastern Conference team into several categories and placed the Hawks in a “stuck in the middle” category with the Chicago Bulls:

“Atlanta, a play-in team each of the last three seasons, has been in the same boat as the Bulls in recent years: directionless.

There’s no real incentive for the franchise to bottom out, since the Hawks owe their 2025 and 2027 first-round picks to the Spurs in exchange for Dejounte Murray’s 2022 contract. (San Antonio also has the trade rights to Atlanta’s 2026 pick.)

Perhaps it was that inability that led the club to finally trade Murray to New Orleans last week in exchange for Larry Nance Jr., Dyson Daniels, EJ Liddell and two future first-round picks. And there’s potential on the roster. Jalen Johnson, 22, likely would have been in the Most Improved Player voting if he hadn’t narrowly missed the games-played threshold. Big man Onyeka Okongwu is still just 23. Zaccharie Risacher, the first overall pick in last week’s NBA draft, will make his summer league debut with the Hawks in the coming days.

Yet, as it has since 2018, Atlanta is trying to figure out how to build around franchise player Trae Young, whose elite offensive skills are complicated by his defensive shortcomings. The Hawks reached the 2021 conference finals but haven’t gotten anywhere near that point since.

The bottom of the Eastern Conference puts Atlanta in a position where they should be a play-in team with their current roster and could even be a top-six seed if things go right. They’re a better roster around Trae Young and all the pieces are coming together better, much like the 2021 Conference Finals team. I’m not saying this team will do that, but the structure of the team makes more sense than the last two seasons. There are still moves to make for the Hawks this offseason, including potential deals for Clint Capela, Larry Nance, and possibly De’Andre Hunter. The Hawks should continue to add the right pieces to their team, remain patient, and continue to build their roster, which they did this offseason.