4+ mon, 6+ day ago (349+ words) The Eastern Conference is dealing with some major injury setbacks heading into the year with Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton set to miss the entire season. In theory, this gives Atlanta a real chance to rise toward the top of the standings. Some early projections have them securing home court in round one of the playoffs, which speaks to how much things have shifted this summer. It all starts with Kristaps. Adding a high-level stretch big with shot-blocking ability gives Atlanta an element they have not quite had during the Trae Young era. When healthy, Porzingis opens up spacing for shooters, protects the rim, and can serve as insurance in late-clock situations. Having him in the frontcourt gives this team more layers than it had before. Kennard and Alexander-Walker both bring specific tools that this team needed as well. Kennard…...

4+ mon, 3+ week ago (394+ words) Deep in the trenches of a franchise-altering offseason, the Atlanta Hawks are one of the NBA's trendy picks to rise in their conference. Already weaker than its Western counterpart, the Eastern Conference is wide open heading into the 2025-26 campaign. At the front of that line is the Boston Celtics. The 2024 NBA champions were faced with several big decisions in the past 12 months. Wyc Grousbeck sold the team to Bill Chisholm at a $6.1 billion valuation. From a salary-cap perspective, the club chose the duck below the second apron. Had they been dead-set on keeping their core, punitive penalties in team-building would've followed. The front office chose the safer option and began shedding salary." As sizable as these losses are for the Celtics, they're also major wins for the rest of the conference. Two of Boston's superpowers during their contending window have…...

5+ mon, 2+ day ago (391+ words) The Atlanta Hawks emerged from the 2025 NBA Draft with a clear need for a backup point guard. While Nickeil Alexander-Walker is not a perfect option, he could be an ideal fit with what the Hawks have and need. More importantly, he appears one step closer to hitting free agency. Alexander-Walker's current team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, re-signed 2023-24 Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid to a five-year, $125 million contract on June 27. That deal is expected to put a squeeze on Minnesota that could benefit Atlanta. For whatever it is worth, Alexander-Walker spoke candidly about being open to a return to the Timberwolves this offseason." It could be a simple matter of economics, though. Aside from Reid's deal, the Timberwolves spent a first-round pick on Rob Dillingham, have fellow second-year man Terrance Shannon Jr. ready to take on a bigger role, and…...

4+ mon, 2+ week ago (374+ words) After a comfortable 98-80 win over the Phoenix Suns at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas on Sunday, the Atlanta Hawks are 2-0 in Summer League play. With contributions up and down the roster, Atlanta showed more cohesion and immediate energy than in their opener. All ten players who checked in scored for the Hawks, including five getting into double figures. Unlike Friday's comeback win over Miami, the Hawks raced out to a quick lead, leading 30-17 after an action-packed first quarter. They would not relinquish control, despite Phoenix cutting the difference down as low as 6 in the third quarter. Toppin was everywhere in Sunday's game. His pesky defense helped slow down a Suns offense that came out red-hot. After Phoenix connected on 4 of their first 5 attempts from the field, Atlanta's defense stepped up. Toppin's statline (15 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal) looks strong, yet it still…...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago (352+ words) The Hawks, however, did not do the same. After playing their top eight players for the first two preseason matchups, they decided to rest everyone in their home opener. Some fans were disappointed with this decision, but others were excited to see the younger guys get some extended run. Atlanta's starting lineup included two of their current two-way players: Keaton Wallace and Jacob Toppin. Through three preseason games, Wallace seems to be heading towards a standard contract. He played a vital role as the ninth man in the first two, and only played 13 minutes in last night's game where the tail end of the roster got significant minutes. After a summer of blockbuster moves, Atlanta has two standard roster spots open as the regular season inches closer. Assuming Keaton Wallace, a guard, fills one of them, the final spot would…...

1+ mon, 2+ day ago (422+ words) The Atlanta Hawks are simply not good enough on the glass, and it has cost them two preventable losses to the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls." In the loss to the Bulls, Porzingis had a whopping two rebounds over 25 minutes of action. His matchup, Nikola Vucevic, recorded 17 boards, including four on the offensive side. It is impressive the Hawks remained as close as they did in spite of such a lopsided rebounding advantage." While Porzingis isn't the only problem on the glass, as the center, he is certainly the most important one to address. There's no reason to believe he can suddenly just become a better rebounder with new coaching or conditioning programs. Simply put, the other players will have to overachieve to cover Porzingis's weakness. Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu are the only two rebounders who have historically been…...

7+ hour, 49+ min ago (399+ words) Zaccharie Risacher has had a regrettable start to the season. Through his first 15 games of the season, Risacher averaged 11.3 points on 29.2% from deep and 44.2% from the field. Each of these is a regression from his rookie stats. When combined with the strange, unexplained minutes restriction levied on him, Risacher had very few positives to take away. In his past two games, however, Risacher has come alive. Despite getting trounced by the Wizards on Tuesday night, Risacher dropped 17 points on 4/9 from three and 2/3 from two in an overall smooth offensive performance. He also tallied two steals and three blocks against the Wizards, building upon his defensive improvement this season. In the following game against the Cavaliers, Risacher had 14 points on 2/3 from deep and a perfect 3/3 from two. This included the game-winning corner three, where Risacher was contested and off-balance after a…...

2+ mon, 6+ day ago (744+ words) Last night at the Emory Sports Medicine Complex, the Atlanta Hawks hosted their 14th annual Coaches Clinic. I was fortunate enough to cover the event and witness firsthand how the franchise values building relationships with its community. While this has been an annual event for over a decade, this was the first year the Hawks hosted it in partnership with their G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks. The purpose of this event is to provide local coaches of all levels with invaluable expertise from some of the most proven basketball instructors in the world. More than 250 coaches across the state of Georgia were in attendance. Hawks Head Coach Quin Snyder was unable to attend this year, but Atlanta's talented assistant coaches held down the fort and led an incredible evening. I asked him about the importance of events like these,…...

3+ mon, 23+ hour ago (522+ words) The Atlanta Hawks just built a perfect team around Trae Young. But they forgot one important part " actually making sure Young will be there long-term. The Atlanta Hawks spend this offseason building a team to surround Trae Young. They did that pretty dang well too, and will enter the 2025-26 season with real wind at their backs and a chance to win a weakened Eastern Conference. But they're also playing a dangerous game by neglecting to extend Trae Young this summer, instead electing to play out 2025-26 and reassess next offseason. Sources say Young's side has actually been resigned for some time to the prospect of seeing out the final guaranteed year on his current contract rather than securing an extension, like his current contract, worth in excess of $200 million. He'd then have to make a decision about his $49 million player option…...

1+ mon, 3+ week ago (238+ words) After one of the most fruitful offseasons in franchise history, the Atlanta Hawks' preseason was one to watch. While the team retained the same starting core, they made significant upgrades to the center position and key bench roles." The team is loaded with talent, headlined by seven starting-caliber players, but lacks a clear identity due to the numerous offseason changes. Everyone was curious to see how Quin Snyder would use this reloaded roster in action. The team clearly had some rust to shake off in the first quarter of their first preseason game against the Houston Rockets, opening with an abysmal shooting slump and miscommunications that should be solved with greater familiarity within the team. In the second quarter, however, Atlanta went on a captivating run centered around strong transition play. While Atlanta has the talent to be a dominant…...