BS Report: Hawks Make Moves at Deadline

Well, we talked on Wednesday about the possibility of the Atlanta Hawks making some more moves before the trade deadline on Thursday, and they did just that on late Wednesday night. They made a huge trade with the Golden State Warriors, sending Kristaps Porzingis to Golden State in exchange for two players Jonathan Kuminga and also Buddy Hill. Now Porzingis of course was supposed to be a big part of this year’s team for Atlanta.

But unfortunately he played in only 17 games. He was just unable to stay healthy. And an Achilles injury. He had the illness that he was dealing with, and he only played about one third of the games for Atlanta. He was on an expiring contract, so the Hawks sent him to Golden State for two players. But he healed as an older player, 33 years old. He’s got a contract for next year and then a player option for the next year, but the Hawks are able to cut him before the draft. This coming summer and only have to pay him $3 million. So there’s a little bit of financial flexibility there. Jonathan Kuminga, however, is the player that’s going to be very interesting to watch now.

He has had a lot of drama in Golden State with Steve Kerr and with the front office there. He had a contract dispute last summer. Then they signed him to a two year deal, and then he didn’t want to play in one game and did not get along at all with his coach, Steve Kerr. But this kid has shown glimpses of being a very productive young player. He’s only 23 years old. He played very well last year in the playoffs for Golden State against Minnesota, and has shown glimpses of doing good work when he’s gotten more playing time now, how will he fit in with Atlanta? Well, that’ll be interesting to see how they use him. He’s a forward and the Hawks already have of course Jaylen Johnson the power forward and Zachary Sachet at the small forward spot.

So we’ll see how Quin Snyder the head coach kind of integrates Jonathan Kuminga in there. But the Hawks your manager on Cecil Law was formerly in the Golden State front office. So he was there when they drafted Kuminga back several years ago out of high school. And we’ll see how the Hawks feel about him. They have an option for him next year so they can let him go. If this audition basically does not go well for Kuminga, the Hawks can let him go and have that cap room to get another player during free agency. They also traded Luke Kennard, who’s been leading the NBA and three point percentage to the Lakers for Gabe Vincent, who is a backup point guard. The Hawks also get a second round pick in 2032.

That was just accumulating another asset. Both Vincent and Kennard are on expiring contract, so it’s just swapping deals. They’re going to be coming up, but Kennard has a little bit more value and can help the Lakers, who need some help from the three point area. The Hawks really didn’t need Kennard as much with the addition of Corey Kispert when he came from the Wizards and the deal for Trae Young, so we’re talking about a pretty decent turnover here for this Atlanta team. They now have seven players who have been acquired since opening night. And now six of those players are on the roster. One of them were actually do a breathe was actually let go. And then you look at the players new since last season currently on the roster there’s nine so significant turnover for the Atlanta Hawks. We’ll see how they play for the rest of the year, see if they can be more competitive, better and do well and have a playoff push.

But there is a big time change in that roster for the Atlanta Hawks after the NBA trade deadline.