Hawks Acquire, Waive Derrick Walton Jr.

5:06pm: The Hawks have officially confirmed their acquisition of Walton, announcing in the same press release that he has been waived. Atlanta sent its 2022 second-round pick (top-55 protected) to the Clippers in the deal. The exact amount of cash the Hawks received is $1,313,576, tweets Hollinger.

12:24pm: The Clippers and Hawks have reached a trade agreement to send Derrick Walton Jr. to Atlanta, league sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The Clippers are sending $1.3MM in cash to Atlanta in the deal and will receive a top-55 protected second-round pick from the Hawks, tweets John Hollinger of The Athletic.

The minor move will open up a roster spot for the Clippers and create a modest trade exception worth Walton’s $1,445,697 salary. It also gives them a little more breathing room below the tax line, as Jovan Buha of The Athletic observes (via Twitter).

The Clippers have been linked to a handful of trade candidates leading up to the trade deadline and could be active on the buyout market as well, so that extra roster spot figures to come in handy.

According to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Hawks aren’t planning to keep Walton. The 24-year-old guard has appeared in just 23 games, averaging 2.2 PPG in 9.7 MPG for the Clippers this season.

A year ago, the Hawks accommodate a Jabari Bird salary dump on deadline day in order to acquire cash from Boston, then waived Bird. This is a similar maneuver, as Atlanta will make some money in exchange for allowing the Clippers to open a roster spot — the Hawks will only have to pay the prorated portion left on Walton’s salary.