6:42pm: The trade is now officially complete, according to press releases from the Hawks and Rockets. Because Atlanta ended up trading the No. 44 pick (Pelle Larsson) and cash to Miami in exchange for No. 43 pick Nikola Djurisic, that trade agreement between the Heat and Hawks has been folded into this one, making it a three-team deal.
1:14pm: The Hawks and Rockets have agreed to a trade that will send forward AJ Griffin to Houston in exchange for the No. 44 pick in Thursday’s draft, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Griffin, the 16th overall pick in the 2022 draft, had a promising rookie season in which he averaged 8.9 points per game with a .465/.390/.894 shooting line in 72 contests (19.5 MPG).
However, he missed time due to leg and ankle issues and personal reasons in 2023/24 and didn’t play much when he was available, averaging just 8.6 minutes per contest in 20 appearances. His scoring numbers cratered to 2.4 PPG on 29.0% shooting (.256 3PT%).
Despite his forgettable sophomore season, Griffin had been a player of interest in Houston for a while, according to Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The Rockets, who will be operating over the cap but have plenty of breathing room below the luxury tax line, will be able to acquire the 20-year-old without sending out a player because they have a $4.5MM trade exception from last year’s Kevin Porter trade that Griffin will fit into, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Using a trade exception created last year will hard-cap Houston at the first tax apron for 2024/25.
Griffin will earn a guaranteed $3.89MM salary for next season and the Rockets will have until the end of October to decide whether or not they want to exercise his $5.97MM team option for the ’25/26 season.
The Hawks have been exploring possible deals involving Griffin since February’s trade deadline, per Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The move will help them out a bit financially — as Marks tweets, Atlanta’s projected team salary is now right at the luxury tax line, though it would increase to first tax apron territory in the event that Saddiq Bey gets a qualifying offer.
The Hawks, whose own second-round pick at No. 40 is controlled by Portland, will now have the opportunity to select a player in a similar range at No. 44 tonight.
Draft a guy 16th, phase him out after 1 season so that his value declines steadily in his second season, then trade him for the 44th pick in a pretty weak 2nd round class. Winning move right there.
I guess salary relief???
Combination of that and the addition of Risacher, who is projected to be a better player than Griffin in a similar role. That said, Griffin’s injuries and poor play when he was available didn’t help him at all.
Ya there is some redundancy there…to be fair, Griffin wasn’t used right most of the time
The Hawks must not be confident that Griffin will recover or afraid he won’t vibe with his teammates because of his somewhat unique personal beliefs.He had a strong rookie season, especially so for a 16th pick. If the Hawks trade Murray or Young he could’ve worked as a big SG.
I find it hard to blame injuries when a guy has only been in the league for 2 seasons and stayed relatively healthy the first season. I’m not saying moving on from Griffin was a bad move, I just think the process was bad. Not a fireable offense, just not a great series of decisions.
Seriously man, they didn’t phase him out. Follow the link above to basketball reference and then look at his game logs. Those weren’t phase outs, but his inability to stay healthy. Injury history was the reason he fell from consensus top 5 pick down to 16th .. and it looks like the Hawks should have just stayed away.
– 2023 – 2024
– missed over two weeks due to personal reasons (11/30 through 12/28)
– missed next three games while practicing to get back into game ready form
– played sparingly for next dozen games because he just wasn’t good enough to really force JJ, Hunter or Boggy to the bench
– then comes up hobbled on 1/30 with what was originally thought to be a bruise/soft tissue damage, but was later diagnosed as a low grade sprain that basically took him the rest of the season to overcome
You can say the H:awks are cutting him loose a bit early, but saying they ‘phased him out’ is just plain ridiculous.
None of us know what the personal issue was (at least I can’t find anything on it), but when you are fighting for minutes and you disappear for multiple weeks you can’t expect to come right back in to your original spot. The one good thing I can say is that I don’t think AJ complained about it outwardly. Seems to have just gotten some bad breaks and I hope he turns it around. He might make the Hawks look bad, but I also can’t blame them for making the tough call.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering, I would have preferred the Hawks moved one of their two PG’s, don’t offer Bey enough to prevent someone from matching, trading Capela and probably Boggie. Then let AJ get another look while being well under the cap. He would still have to fight for minutes with Hunter and Z, but I do think he can turn it around if he stays healthy and commits.
Not sure how many 4/3s Hpuston needs, but might as well take the free piece…
Atlanta every time…they add pieces then subtract in very confusing ways. I guess they have a lot of options at the 4 right now, and they need help at the 2/3, but I still thought he wasn’t used right…not of the same ilk of giving away Huerter, but still wonder…I’m sure they’re targeting someone at the positions of need I mentioned with the early pick, b/c there’s guys still on the board that make sense there
I with you on this, not sure adding a high risk young wing is a smart addition with Smith, Tari, Brooks, Cam and even Amen at times I’d get it if he was a spot up shooter but I’m not sure he’s a great 3pt guy. It could be the signal Tate is gone. But even so seems like a weird move with so many high ceiling young players already there and 3 in similar positions.
From ATL they know more about his “personal issues” and might be moving a locker room time bomb. We’ll see in a few months if this was a smart move by Hawks.
How much higher of a ceiling is anyone at 44 than a guy that was nearly a lotto pick 2 years ago and is 20 years old? He shot 39% from 3 his rookie season. Don’t see how this move or AJ Griffin as being “high risk” whatsoever.
AJ was a shock to fall all the way to 16 and was a debatable lotto prospect. Rockets were praying for either AJ and Tari to fall to 17 to draft one of them. Now they have both.
If he shot that high(I didn’t think it was that good) rockets had a steal and filled their biggest need with #3 and #44.
Not a high risk trade, I meant a high risk player. Like I said I think his off court issues are what has killed his value and what causes it to be a risk, another locker room problem child could cause more damage than the benefits he brings. Exactly the same as KPJ lotto prospect then issues made him fall to #30 then he causes drama and leaves Cavs for nothing to rockets.
I see your point. Totally fair!
Only a matter of time before he’s out of the league and becomes a preacher telling us we’re all sinners and going to hell. Again.
Clearly I’m missing something, but maybe this is why he was used wrong…I actually thought he fell in the draft to them. I had him higher, though there were a few guys like that, like Jalen Williams that year
Nothing to do with his game, let’s just say AJ has somewhat unique religious beliefs.
Hawks just keep losing their minds …..
Sarr was right about them.
AJ is a solid player just bad luck with injuries and unfortunately for him Houston is a terrible landing spot. They already have like 10 wings
Yeah do t get that. Unless another trade coming.
Probably going to get cut, he is getting that Cam Reddish treatment.
Hawks picks last 10 yrs ?????????
2024 – #1 pick Risacher
2023 – #15 pick Kobe Bufkin
2022 – #16 pick AJ Griffin
2021 – #20 pick Jalen Johnson
2020 – #6 pick Onyeka Okongwu
2019 – #8 pick Jaxson Hayes
2019 – #10 pick Cam Reddish
2018 – #3 LUKA
2017 – #19 John Collins
2016 – #21 DeAndre Bembry
2015 – #15 Kelly Obrue
2014 – #15 Adreian Payne
No wonder Sarr RAN to Washington.
Imo Okongwu and Risacher will be gone soon. Cause that’s what Hawks do RECYCLE ……. Regressing
You’re not wrong they are about as bad at drafting and developing as Knicks(wink wink, but I do love how the Knicks have done this off). The Luka thing was bad and good luck, Young became the 3rd best outta that draft when a fair few underwhelmed only behind 2 MVP level guys in Luka and SGA. Trae is one of the best guards in the league, but him plus another 1st seems like a steal for Mavs but at the time it wasn’t that crazy. Same with SGA being included in the PG trade, he wasn’t expected to be this good.
I think ATL did a good attempt to make a good team with Capela Collins Murray and Trae based on paper at the time. Just a shame Collins dropped off and DJ and Trae just didn’t work. Even worse Spurs have all their picks so they can’t even blow it up. They have a big job to retool without giving Spurs strong picks. Trae and Murray should be both moved for the biggest haul of high ceiling young guys and picks ASAP to retool/soft build fast. ORL and HOU are when I expect them to likely go if they want the most assets, both team benefit from either player and have the best young talent to move.
I think Murray and Capela to NO for Ingram and Dyson Daniels would be a great balancer for both rosters.
Trae, V, Ingram, JJ, Okongwu
Boggie, Daniels, Bey is a decent start to rebuild
Murray, CJ, Murphy, Zion, Missi
Capela, Jones, Nance
@Magical. Nice trade. Hawks would be a force adding Ingram(who I actually think is better fit and player than Murray). I’d say a 5 away from a big threat in east. With this trade no rebuild needed!
As for Pels it’s a big improvement on fit and depending on Zion would make them more credible in an already stacked West. But I kinda like KAT for the Pels at C to space the floor and make up for Zions lack of outside shooting, over a needed PG.
I still think the Hawks need to move on from Trae now though, just feels like both team and player need a change, he’ll return a lot more than the Journalist are drawing up.
The Pelicans should not trade for Dejounte Murray at all, they need somebody that can pass to Zion and I kean HIGH level passes. Murray isnt that, if they cant get Trae Young they shpuld get Darius Garland who is a way better fit that Murray