Atlanta Hawks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

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.

Several Two-Way Players Nearing Active Game Limit

February 20th, 2024 at 10:35am CST by Luke Adams

A player who signs a two-way contract with an NBA team is permitted to be active for up to 50 regular season games. That limit is prorated if the player signed his two-way deal after the regular season got underway — for instance, a player who finalized a two-way contract halfway through the season would be permitted to be active for up to 25 contests at the NBA level.

Several two-way players have been promoted to standard contracts recently, eliminating those games-played limits. GG Jackson (Grizzlies), Keon Ellis (Kings), Lindy Waters III (Thunder), Craig Porter Jr. (Cavaliers), Duop Reath (Trail Blazers), and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (Pelicans) have all signed new deals since the trade deadline.

However, there are still a number of players on two-way contracts around the league who are at or near their active-game limit for the season. Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link) identifies Celtics big man Neemias Queta, Mavericks guard Brandon Williams, Grizzlies guard Jacob Gilyard, and Hornets teammates Leaky Black and Nathan Mensah as two-way players who have 10 or fewer active games left, while Hawks guard Trent Forrest has already reached his 50-game limit.

In some cases, promotions to the standard roster may be forthcoming. Queta, for instance, has been a semi-regular contributor off the bench for the Celtics, who have an open spot on their 15-man roster, so if Boston wants to make him playoff-eligible and ensure he’s able to be active for the rest of the regular season, a contract conversion would be pretty straightforward.

Other cases could be trickier. While the Hawks would presumably like to have Forrest available for the rest of the season, they have a full 15-man roster, so they’d have to waive someone to make room to promote him.

Atlanta at least has some viable release candidates on its roster — for instance, veterans Patty Mills and Wesley Matthews haven’t played much and aren’t owed guaranteed money beyond this season. But that’s not the case in Memphis, where Gilyard has made a strong case for a promotion from his two-way deal by averaging 4.7 points and 3.5 assists in 37 games (17.7 MPG), with a .425 3PT%.

The Grizzlies have already promoted Jackson and Vince Williams from two-way contracts and may not have any expendable players left on their 15-man roster who could be cut to make room for Gilyard. Luke Kennard ($14.8MM team option for 2024/25) and Lamar Stevens (unrestricted free agent this summer) are the only Grizzlies not owed any guaranteed money after this season, and both are playing rotation roles for the banged-up club.

“We’ll see what happens when the time comes,” Gilyard said of his uncertain situation, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “As a basketball player, it’s definitely on your mind. I try not to let it affect me. I think that’s probably the worst part about being a point guard is you start to understand things and start to grasp things like that.”

“It’s kind of a juggling act,” Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said of working within those active-game limits for his two-way players, including Gilyard and Scotty Pippen Jr. “It’s hard to make those decisions, trying to preserve those dates. (Pippen’s) understood it. I was very upfront with him when he came in, (general manager) Zach (Kleiman) and myself. I think when he came in, we were maybe on the 40-game mark, but he didn’t have 40 games available, so it’s very unfortunate.

“Maybe it’s something that we look into as a league because I think he’s earned the opportunity to play every single night. We just have to balance the games he actually has available to him.”

Besides those players who are approaching their games-played limits, there are a few others on two-way contracts around the league who look like candidates to be promoted to standard rosters before the end of the regular season. Nets forward Jalen Wilson and Warriors guard Lester Quinones are among those who were playing regularly for their respective clubs leading up to the All-Star break.

Promoting a player to a standard contract would open up a two-way slot for his team, allowing that club to reset its active-game counter for that slot — at least to some extent. Due to the prorated nature of those game limits, a player who signs a two-way contract today could only be active for up to 16 games the rest of the way, but that’s 16 more games than, say, Forrest is eligible to play for the Hawks as long as he remains on his current two-way deal.

Teams have until March 4 to sign players to two-way contracts, so I expect to see a good deal of roster activity related to two-way slots within the next couple weeks.

Southeast Notes: Young, Banchero, Hornets, Leonsis

February 19th, 2024 at 11:57am CST by Arthur Hill

Trade rumors are a reality of life for most NBA players, Hawks guard Trae Young told reporters following Sunday’s All-Star Game (video link). Speculation has been growing that Young could be on the move this summer, especially after Atlanta decided to hold onto his backcourt partner, Dejounte Murray, at the deadline.

“The best players in the game have all been traded,” Young said. “Some of the few lucky ones have been blessed to be drafted in situations where they can win championships and it will all be perfect for them. They can stay in that one situation forever. That’s what I wanted to do, and that’s what I want to do with Atlanta. But who knows? This is the type of league where things change, but obviously my mindset is staying in Atlanta right now. I don’t get caught up in all the rumors and stuff. My contract is locked in for a couple years. I don’t have very much say in it right now.”

As Young notes, he’s under contract for the next two seasons and has a nearly $49MM early termination option for 2026/27. His contract also includes a 15% trade kicker, which would factor into the price of any deal unless he chooses to waive it. Young is in his sixth year with the Hawks after being taken with the fifth pick in the 2018 draft, but the organization may be ready for massive changes following another disappointing season.

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

Now that his first All-Star Game is over, Paolo Banchero will return his focus to getting the Magic into the postseason, tweets Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. Banchero said the playoff race was a topic of conversation among Eastern Conference players. “In the locker room, we were talking about the standings and stuff,” he said. “… How intense it’s going to be after the break.”
The new-look Hornets entered the All-Star break with three straight wins as the shakeup at the trade deadline has brought a new energy to the team, writes Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. The organization opted to part with veterans Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward and P.J. Washington while bringing more young talent onto the roster. “It feels good. Guys are happy, coaches are happy,” said Tre Mann, who was acquired in a deal with Oklahoma City. “We know it’s a lot more work to do. We can get better and it’s a small sample size. And we’ve got to build on it.”
The Washington Post (subscription required) takes an inside look at the secret negotiations that led to Ted Leonsis’ plan to move the Wizards and the NHL’s Capitals to Arlington, Virginia.