Amid several rumors that the Hawks hoped to trade John Collins either before or during the draft, a source tells Chris Kirschner of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the big man is “likely” to remain with the team for at least one more night. However, Kirscher notes in a follow-up tweet that there’s still a chance that Collins could be moved in the coming days.
Atlanta has been open in its desire to improve the roster this summer, and Collins is one of the team’s best players and thus a prime trade chip, so it’s only logical that he’s been mentioned in trade rumors. It’s certainly not the first time his name has been floated around, as it has become a recurrent theme the past couple seasons.
Collins was one of the hottest names on the free agent market last year after failing to come to terms with the Hawks on a rookie scale extension. He wound up re-signing with Atlanta for $125MM over five years, but the team has been searching for a trade partner to improve its defense, which ranked 26th in the league last season.
The 24-year-old played an important role for the Hawks as they reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2020/21, but his production declined in ’21/22 when he was limited to 54 games due to multiple injuries. He averaged 16.2 PPG this past season, the lowest scoring mark since his rookie year, while shooting 52.6% from the field and 36.4% from three-point range, both down from two seasons ago.
Spurs asking price is too high
Kings did not offer enough
Hawks shot themselves in the foot by maxing him. They value Collins way too highly. Not a JC hater either but he’s not a max guy.
He didnt get a max. And hes appropriately valued, they honestly undervalue him.
Wouldn’t go that far. His defense is why they’re looking to move him. They have enough perimeter shooters on the team anyway, they don’t need one of the few bigs doing to same and not cleaning up the boards in the paint. At $25M per I agree he’s appropriately valued, but he needs to get his D going if he wants another payday.
JC is nowhere near a max contract, get your facts right, dude!
BTW he is worth the max!
He’s paid what the Suns want to pay Ayton.