Atlanta Hawks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Dylan Windler Signs Two-Way Deal With Hawks

March 4th, 2024 at 6:00pm CST by Tristan Tucker

6:00pm: The deal is now official, according to a release from the team.

5:48pm: Free agent guard/forward Dylan Windler is signing a two-way contract with the Hawks, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The Hawks had an open two-way slot after converting Trent Forrest to a standard deal, so no corresponding move is required.

Windler spent most of the year on a two-way deal with the Lakers before he was waived over the weekend to make room for Harry Giles. He began the year on a two-way contract with the Knicks.

In 11 games this year between the Knicks and Lakers, Windler has averaged 1.3 points. He has been much more productive in the G League, averaging 13.3 points and 8.2 rebounds in 16 games. He turned heads earlier this season by recording a G League single-game record 33 rebounds on Jan. 5.

He’s eligible to be active in 12 of Atlanta’s 22 remaining games this season.

Windler, 27, was the 26th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. He spent the first three years of his career with the Cavaliers, averaging 3.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 84 games with the Cavs. Even though two-way players are limited to three or fewer years of service, Windler is eligible for a two-way contract due to the new “Harry Giles rule,” which allows players with four years of service to sign two-way deals if they missed a full season due to injury.

Because of the terms of the rule, Windler is only eligible to sign a one-year two-way deal, which means he’ll be eligible for restricted free agency this offseason. He’ll have the rest of the season to make an impression on the organization and compete for a spot on the standard roster for next season.

Dejounte Murray Earns $500K Bonus

March 2nd, 2024 at 3:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Hawks guard Dejounte Murray has locked in a $500K bonus on top of his base salary this season after making his 125th three-pointer of the season on Saturday, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The bonus had been deemed likely and already counted against Murray’s $18.2MM cap hit because he earning that incentive last season by making 133 threes.

Southeast Notes: Pokusevski, Curry, Martin, Forrest, Wizards

March 2nd, 2024 at 10:26am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Hornets signed young forward Aleksej Pokusevski to a two-year contract which is non-guaranteed for the 2024/25 season, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto (Twitter link). Charlotte will get a chance to monitor the 7’0″ forward and see if he can live up to his former 17th overall draft selection status.

Pokusevski became the fourth former Thunder player to join the Hornets after the deadline, joining Vasilije Micic, Tre Mann, and Davis Bertans. According to Sam Perley of Hornets.com (Twitter link), those connections are helping him feel comfortable in his new home.

“It feels good,” Pokusevski said. “The guys are great. [Having former OKC teammates here] makes it easier. Vasa, Tre, Bertāns. It feels better that I can talk to the guys that I know and they can explain how things are going here.”

We have more from the Southeast Division:

Hornets guards Seth Curry (right ankle) and Cody Martin (left ankle) exited the second half of Charlotte’s Friday matchup against the Sixers due to injuries, according to team PR (Twitter link). They will both be evaluated on Saturday.
Hawks guard Trent Forrest is seeing his hard work pay off after getting his two-way contract converted into a standard deal, writes The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Lauren Williams (subscriber link). According to Williams (Twitter links), coach Quin Snyder lauded Forrest’s progression and work ethic. “He’s just he’s been a guy that’s, it’s hard to, have durability and in this league and Trent’s, a guy that’s continuing to work to put himself in a position where he is where he is right now,” Snyder said. “And I say that with full confidence that he’s going to continue to work. And that’s one of the things that we really appreciate about him. Happy for him. I think he he’s earned everything everybody’s given him in this profession.“
As the Wizards continue to deal with injuries, their bench players are starting to see more opportunities, according to The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace (subscriber link). Eugene Omoruyi, Jules Bernard, Jared Butler, Johnny Davis, Patrick Baldwin Jr., and Justin Champagnie have all received first-quarter minutes as of late. Omoruyi was promoted to a standard deal from his two-way contract on Friday. “Right now, it’s a lot of discovery,” Kyle Kuzma said. “Trying to figure out what a lot of guys do, what they can do, what they can’t do, what they bring to winning basketball.“

Hawks Waive Patty Mills, Convert Trent Forrest To Standard Deal

February 29th, 2024 at 12:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

12:30pm: The Hawks have officially waived Mills, the team announced in a press release. Forrest’s promotion to the standard roster is also official, the club confirmed in a second release.

8:14am: The Hawks will place veteran guard Patty Mills on waivers, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Mills, 35, was traded three times last July before winding up in Atlanta. He has appeared in just 19 games this season and hasn’t played since February 7.

In his 15th NBA season, Mills is averaging 2.7 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 10.6 minutes per night, but he’s shooting 38.2% from three-point range, so he could have value for a contending team seeking an experienced shooter.

Assuming Mills is waived by the end of the day on Friday, he will be eligible to appear in the playoffs if he signs with another club by the end of the season. He has a $6.8MM expiring contract, so the Hawks won’t owe him any money beyond this season.

The Hawks will use the open roster spot to convert two-way guard Trent Forrest to a standard NBA contract, Charania tweets. The move will make Forrest eligible to play again — he had already reached his limit of 50 active games as a two-way player, even though he has only appeared in 20 of them, averaging 2.0 points, 1.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 10.5 minutes per night off Atlanta’s bench.

Forrest, 25, is in his second season with Atlanta after signing a two-way deal with the team in the summer of 2022. Prior to that, he spent two years in Utah.

The Hawks now have a full 15-man roster and a two-way opening that can be filled through March 4.

Southeast Notes: Hawks, Collins, A. Ainge, Bryant, Rozier

February 28th, 2024 at 5:46pm CST by Rory Maher

Despite being involved in countless rumors in the months leading up to the trade deadline, the Hawks‘ front office decided to stand pat. As John Hollinger of The Athletic writes, Atlanta hasn’t made any type of significant move since trading John Collins to Utah last June in a salary dump.

It’s strange for a middling team to be so inactive, especially since the Hawks had high hopes after trading for Dejounte Murray a couple years ago. But pairing him with Trae Young hasn’t worked out over the past two seasons, particularly on the defensive end, Hollinger notes.

However, Young underwent successful hand surgery on Tuesday and will be sidelined for at least four weeks, giving Murray an opportunity to play his natural position — point guard — while Young is out. As Hollinger observes, despite his relatively diminutive stature, Young has been quite durable over the course of his career, so it will be the Hawks’ first real opportunity in several years to see what they can do without the three-time All-Star.

If the Hawks play well without Young, Hollinger wonders if they’ll be more inclined to trade the 25-year-old this summer instead of Murray, who is on a less expensive long-term contract. Either way, Hollinger argues the Hawks shouldn’t continue their transactional inactivity, as the current roster is too good to bottom out but not good enough to contend for anything meaningful.

Here’s more from the Southeast:

John Collins had an emotional return to Atlanta on Tuesday, per Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune. The former Hawks big man spent his first six seasons with the team before being traded to the Jazz last offseason. “I was aware it was going to be very emotional for me. I was doing my best to not let it, but it did,” Collins said.
After previously reporting a few “prime” contenders to become the Hornets‘ new lead basketball executive, veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein adds another name to the list of possible candidates (via Twitter): Celtics assistant GM Austin Ainge, the son of Jazz CEO Danny Ainge. Austin has been with Boston in various roles for well over a decade.
The NBA will allow Heat backup center Thomas Bryant to receive his 2023 championship ring on Thursday in Denver, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link), who notes that suspended players are not normally permitted inside arenas on game days. However, the league decided to make an exception for Bryant, who will have to leave after the pregame ceremony. Bryant was a role player last year for the Nuggets.
Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald takes a look at what the Heat are expecting from trade acquisition Terry Rozier, who returned to action on Tuesday after battling a knee sprain. Rozier says he’s still trying to find the right balance now that he’s not the top offensive option like he was for part of the season in Charlotte. “For sure,” Rozier said. “Not trying to do too much, but you got guys over there screaming at me, telling me I need to shoot the ball. Just trying to figure it out. Wins is all we really care about.“

Trae Young Undergoing Hand Surgery, Out At Least Four Weeks

February 25th, 2024 at 12:45pm CST by Luke Adams

Hawks star Trae Young, who underwent an MRI on his left hand after injuring it in Friday’s loss to Toronto, has been diagnosed with a tear of the radial collateral ligament (RCL) in the fifth finger of that hand, the team announced today (Twitter link).

According to the Hawks, Young will undergo surgery on Tuesday to repair the RCL and will be reevaluated in four weeks.

It’s unclear whether or not Young will be healthy enough to return at the four-week mark, but even if he is, he’ll miss more than half of Atlanta’s 26 remaining games. The team currently has a 24-32 record and is hanging onto the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference, two games back of the ninth-seeded Bulls and three games ahead of the No. 11 Nets.

Securing the No. 10 spot would give the Hawks a chance to make the playoffs, though they’d need to win two play-in contests against higher seeds to advance in that scenario.

An All-Star this season for the third time in his career, Young is averaging 26.4 points and a career-high 10.8 assists this season in 51 games (36.5 MPG), with a shooting line of .426/.371/.856. He’s the Hawks’ leading scorer and his 30.3% usage rate is easily the highest mark on the roster.

Young is under contract on a maximum-salary deal for two more guaranteed seasons beyond this one, then holds a $49MM player option for 2026/27. He has been cited as a potential offseason trade candidate a couple times since the February 8 deadline, though those reports were based more on the speculation of rival executives than information from inside the Hawks’ organization.

With Young unavailable, Atlanta will likely lean more on Dejounte Murray and Bogdan Bogdanovic to handle the ball and initiate the offense.

It’s worth noting that guard Trent Forrest, who is on a two-way contract, has reached his limit of 50 active games, so it will be interesting to see whether the team makes a roster move involving Forrest to fortify its backcourt depth. Promoting him to the 15-man roster would free him up to continue playing, though it would require waiving someone on a guaranteed contract. Cutting him would allow Atlanta to add a new two-way player who could be activated immediately.

Trae Young Questionable For Sunday

February 24th, 2024 at 5:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

Hawks guard Trae Young is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against Orlando due to an injured finger on his left hand, tweets Lauren Williams of The Journal-Constitution.

Hawks’ Okongwu Out At Least Two Weeks With Toe Sprain

February 24th, 2024 at 1:30pm CST by Rory Maher

FEBRUARY 24: Okongwu has been placed in a walking boot and will miss at least two weeks, which is when he’ll be reevaluated, the Hawks announced in a press release.

FEBRUARY 22: Hawks big man Onyeka Okongwu will be sidelined “for the foreseeable future” with a left big toe sprain, head coach Quin Snyder said on Thursday, per Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link).

“I don’t want to speak out of turn as far as a timeline goes, but he’s not going to be available for the foreseeable future,” Synder said (Twitter link via Brad Rowland of Locked On Hawks).

Okongwu had only missed one game this season prior to last Monday’s loss to Chicago, which is when he sustained the injury. Unfortunately, it sounds like he could miss a good deal of time.

The 23-year-old played one college season at USC before being selected sixth overall by Atlanta in 2020. Okongwu is a key reserve for the Hawks, averaging 10.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG and 1.1 BPG on .610/.338/.800 shooting in 53 games in 2023/24 (25.8 MPG).

Snyder also said starting center Clint Capela will be back in action on Friday vs. Toronto after dealing with a left adductor strain. However, the Swiss big man will be on a minutes restriction. Capela had missed the past six games with the injury, with Feb. 3 being his last appearance.

With Okongu out, the Hawks will likely continue to lean on Jalen Johnson and Bruno Fernando for minutes at the backup five spot.

The Hawks are currently 24-31, the No. 10 seed in the East.

Danuel House Jr. On Hawks' Radar?

February 20th, 2024 at 5:24pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Free agent Danuel House Jr. is weighing a number of options, including interest from the Hawks, according to the Pat Bev Pod (Twitter link). Considering the source is another current player like Patrick Beverley, who was teammates with House in Philadelphia up until the trade deadline, this info would appear to be very credible. House was traded, along with a second-round pick, by the 76ers to the Pistons, who quickly waived him.

Stein’s Latest: Thompson, Magic, Warriors, Caruso, Hawks, More

February 20th, 2024 at 3:04pm CST by Luke Adams

While he believes that Klay Thompson will ultimately remain in Golden State and eventually retire as a member of the Warriors, Marc Stein writes at Substack that the Magic have been “increasingly mentioned” as a potential suitor for the veteran sharpshooter, who is eligible to reach unrestricted free agency this summer.

Thompson is eligible to sign an extension with the Warriors at any time between now and June 30, but if the two sides don’t reach an agreement by then, he’ll become a free agent and would be able to sign with any team.

While it’s hard to imagine Thompson ending up with the Magic, they’re well positioned to put some pressure on the Warriors — with Markelle Fultz and Gary Harris on expiring contracts and Joe Ingles, Moritz Wagner, and Jonathan Isaac not on guaranteed contracts for 2024/25, Orlando could generate a significant amount of cap room in the offseason.

Here’s more from Stein:

Despite a belief that Alex Caruso was essentially off-limits at this month’s trade deadline, the Bulls gave “real consideration” to the possibility of moving him before trade talks with the Warriors collapsed, Stein writes.
Stein also confirms that Chicago and Sixers had serious discussions about an Andre Drummond deal, but hears from one league source that the Bulls were only willing to move Drummond if they were able to line up another center to replace him. When no such opportunity materialized, they decided to hang onto Drummond.
There’s a sense that the Hawks will make a trade involving one of their starting guards – Trae Young and Dejounte Murray – sooner rather than later. “They know they have to trade one or the other,” one source told Stein.
While Mike Budenholzer‘s name has been mentioned in league circles as a possibility for the Nets‘ permanent head coaching job, Stein suggests that Budenholzer could very well be a top candidate for multiple jobs this spring, so he has reason to be patient to see how the head coaching market plays out.