Atlanta Hawks Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Self, 2024 FAs, G League, Harrison, More

November 9th, 2023 at 3:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Longtime University of Kansas head coach Bill Self has signed an amended lifetime contract with the school’s basketball program, according to a press release. The deal is worth approximately $53MM over the next five years, a source tells Jeff Goodman of The Messenger (Twitter link).

Self, who has never coached in the NBA, was mentioned a few years ago as a possible successor for Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. However, he shot down those rumors on multiple occasions and said he had no intention of leaving the Jayhawks — this latest contract agreement confirms that’s still the case.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report looks ahead to 2024 NBA free agency, previewing the potential top stories and attempting to forecast landing spots for the best free agents in the class. Three Clippers stars – Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and James Harden – headline Pincus’ list.
The NBA G League announced this week that it has entered into a streaming partnership with Tubi, an ad-supported video-on-demand service. “NBA G League TV” will be the result of the union and will air more than 75 live NBAGL games on Fridays and Saturdays each season, starting tomorrow with the opening night of this year’s Showcase Cup.
After initially reporting that veteran NBA guard Shaquille Harrison was on track to finalize a contract with Olimpia Milano, Fabrizio Lorenzi of La Repubblica now says that talks between the two sides have stalled, as Sportando relays.
Following up on the report that the NBA is considering expanding its draft from one day to two days, Zach Harper of The Athletic offers his other suggestions for draft-related changes, including moving it to after free agency.
Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, Pelicans wing Matt Ryan, and Suns center Drew Eubanks are among 10 players singled out by John Hollinger of The Athletic as names who are “emerging from obscurity” and making themselves worth watching in the early going this season.

Hawks To Face Magic In Mexico City

November 9th, 2023 at 12:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Mexico City will host tonight’s game between the Magic and the Hawks, shining a spotlight on a location that could be considered for the NBA’s next round of expansion, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.

Hawks’ Kobe Bufkin Has Thumb Fracture

November 3rd, 2023 at 5:38pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Hawks rookie Kobe Bufkin has a left thumb fracture suffered during a practice with the team’s G League club, the College Park Skyhawks, on Thursday night, Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal Constitution tweets via a team press release.

Bufkin, a guard out of Michigan, was the first player taken outside the lottery this June. The 15th overall pick has made two cameo appearances with the Hawks.

Bufkin will be reevaluated in two weeks, so he won’t be available for Atlanta in the near future.

While the Hawks aren’t depending on Bufkin this season, it’s still a setback for a player they hope will develop into a starter. Bufkin zoomed up draft boards due to his shooting ability and versatility. He averaged 14.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals in his second and final season with the Wolverines.

Southeast Notes: Muscala, Shamet, Hornets, Hawks

November 2nd, 2023 at 12:54pm CST by Rory Maher

Wizards big man Mike Muscala, who was acquired from Boston this offseason in the Kristaps Porzingis trade, got the Latin phrase “carpe diem” (it translates to “seize the day”) tattooed on his right forearm this summer in honor of his late mother, who passed away prior to 2022/23. As Bijan Todd of Monumental Sports Network writes, the 11-year veteran tries to his embody his mother’s zeal for life by bringing her “positive energy” and gratitude, both on and off the court.

“You owe [the starters], when you come in off the bench, just to have that extra energy, and try to, like you said, bring a spark,” Muscala said. “It doesn’t got to be anything crazy, but something to just kinda change the game up a little bit, figure out how you can fit into that. I feel like we got a lot of guys on this team that can do that, too. That’ll be a big thing for us throughout the season.”

Muscala, 32, has appeared in three of Washington’s four games, averaging 3.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 13.7 minutes per night. He’s playing on an expiring $3.5MM contract and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2024.

Here’s more from the Southeast:

Wizards guard Landry Shamet, another offseason addition who was acquired from Phoenix in the Bradley Beal trade, made his ’23/24 season debut on Wednesday, recording eight points, two assists and a steal in 12 minutes. As Josh Robbins of The Athletic notes (via Twitter), Shamet had missed all of preseason and Washington’s first three games with a fractured left toe. Now on his fifth team in six seasons, Shamet could be a free agent next summer — his contract is only guaranteed for this season.
Slow starts to games and poor defensive rotations have plagued Charlotte through four games, with the Hornets off to a 1-3 start. Head coach Steve Clifford said he’s still trying to figure out how to juggle the rotations, according to Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. “That’s ever evolving,” Clifford said. “That’s every day. To be honest with you, I think once you start playing, I think if you talk to most coaches, that’s what you spend your time on. But I do have to be careful in that it still starts with you want the guys on your team to be in rhythm when they are playing. And you can’t just do, ‘We are going to play match-up basketball every night,’ because you can’t be taking guys out. I really think if a guy doesn’t play at least six minutes, you can’t expect him to play well.”
Hawks head coach Quin Snyder told reporters on Wednesday that minutes at power forward will be split between Saddiq Bey, Jalen Johnson and — to a lesser extent — De’Andre Hunter, who mostly plays the three. Neither Snyder nor the players are concerned with who starts, per Brad Rowland (Twitter link). “People get fixated on starting,” Snyder said as part of a larger quote. “It is what it is. You go watch a game in Europe, they start different lineups all the time and no one thinks anything of it. … I think, particularly in Saddiq and Jalen’s case because they’ve both started games, they haven’t thought about it the way the general public thinks about it. … And that’s refreshing, because I think it shows their commitment to the bottom line, which is not the stat sheet. It’s the wins.”

Snyder: "Not A Binary Question" Of Johnson Or Bey

October 27th, 2023 at 9:13am CST by Luke Adams

After Jalen Johnson, De’Andre Hunter, and Saddiq Bey each played at least 29 minutes in the Hawks’ regular season opener, head coach Quin Snyder stressed that he expects all three forwards to get regular playing time and that he doesn’t necessarily need to roll with just two of them at the expense of the third. “It’s not a binary question of Jalen or Saddiq,” Snyder said (Twitter link via Brad Rowland of Locked on Hawks). “Maybe tonight will make that clear.”

Southeast Notes: Okongwu, Anthony, Hawks, Coulibaly, Poole

October 26th, 2023 at 8:01am CST by Luke Adams

Although a handful of players who didn’t sign rookie scale extensions prior to Monday’s deadline have insisted they won’t let their contract situations be a distraction during the 2023/24 season, Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu admitted on Tuesday that he’s happy to have gotten a deal done, since he didn’t want to have 2024 restricted free agency hanging over his head.

Okongwu signed a four-year, $62MM contract extension with the Hawks that doesn’t include any incentives or options.

“Definitely a stress relief because you know, you don’t want to have to go through all that next year,” Okongwu said, per Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Awesome. I love the guys here, coaching staff, my teammates. I wanted to stay here and do it with the guys. So I didn’t even want to do all that but now I can play basketball freely.”

Okongwu’s new deal will have a starting salary of $14MM in 2024/25, reports ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), and will gradually increase from there, albeit not at the maximum rate of 8% per year.

The big man will eventually earn $16,880,000 in 2027/28, according to Marks, who notes that the deal is never projected to be worth more than 10.3% of the cap. That may turn out to be a team-friendly rate for a player who could eventually become Atlanta’s starting center.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

Magic guard Cole Anthony offered a similar line of thinking to Okongwu’s in explaining why he was happy to sign a rookie scale extension of his own prior to Monday’s deadline (Twitter video link via Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel). “The main reason I really wanted to get this deal done is one, I obviously love it here and I really think we have a chance to build something,” Anthony said. “But for me… (to be able to) play the game stress-free. Do what I love, have fun, and just not have to worry about a looming contract. Just go out there and know I’m cool for a few more years and just hoop and have fun.”
The Hawks are under pressure to take a step forward this season, according to Jeff Schultz of The Athletic, who notes that – after replacing Nate McMillan with Quin Snyder in February – another underwhelming year would result in changes that go beyond the head coach.
While Bilal Coulibaly started four of the Wizards‘ preseason games, the team will take a more patient approach with its rookie forward in the regular season, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic, who observes that Coulibaly’s workload in Wednesday’s opener (23 minutes) is an indication of what’s to come for the 19-year-old — and may even be inflated due to garbage-time minutes. “He’s going to get some minutes,” head coach Wes Unseld Jr. said after the game. “We’re going to progress him slowly, yes. We’re not going to heap too much on him too soon. But his minutes will vary.”
Wizards guard Tyus Jones is impressed with what he has seen so far from new teammate Jordan Poole, suggesting that the former Warrior is determined to take his game to new heights even after averaging 20+ points per game last season. “He’s just a worker. A worker, daily; he’s dedicated,” Jones said, per Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. “I don’t want to say he’s not happy, but he’s not happy with where he’s at in his development. He’s not satisfied.”

Eastern Notes: Okoro, Horford, Matthews, P. Williams, Raptors

October 25th, 2023 at 2:09pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers and Isaac Okoro‘s representatives had “productive” talks ahead of Monday’s rookie scale extension deadline, but the two sides decided it was best to wait until next summer to address the forward’s contract situation, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

Sources tell Fedor that the conversations about a new deal for Okoro were in the neighborhood of the deal signed by Mavericks wing Josh Green (three years, $41MM). However, the Cavaliers want to wait and see how the former lottery pick fits with this year’s roster following the offseason additions of Max Strus and Georges Niang, since he no longer projects to be a starter.

Speaking to Fedor on Wednesday, Okoro said he felt like he “should have gotten an extension” but that playing out his contract year won’t affect the way he approaches the season.

“Of course, I wanted an extension, but it happened the way it happened,” he said. “I love Cleveland. I love being here. I love being around the players, coaches, front office staff, trainers. Built great relationships. I don’t take it as a big deal.”

Here are a few more items from around the Eastern Conference:

Celtics big man Al Horford told reporters on Wednesday that he won’t be in the starting lineup when the team’s season tips off in New York tonight, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link). That suggests Derrick White and Jrue Holiday will both start alongside Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis. For what it’s worth, head coach Joe Mazzulla said over the weekend that the Celtics will use multiple starting lineups this season, while Tatum said today that the team essentially has “six starters” (Twitter links via Jared Weiss of The Athletic and Bontemps).
Hawks swingman Wesley Matthews underwent an MRI on Tuesday that revealed a mild right calf strain, the team announced today (Twitter link). According to the Hawks, Matthews will be reevaluated in two weeks, so he’ll miss at least Atlanta’s first seven games of the regular season.
While Bulls forward Patrick Williams admitted on Monday that he would “obviously” like to have “a big contract,” he vowed that his lack of rookie scale extension won’t be a distraction at all this season, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “Anything personal in my life that I’ve been going through, any time I step between those four lines, it’s gone,” Williams said.
Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca takes an in-depth look at the Raptors‘ roster, exploring the team’s cap and tax situation as well as potential next steps for Jeff Dowtin, who didn’t make the regular season cut.

Maxey, Quickley, Williams Among Players Who Didn’t Sign Extensions

October 23rd, 2023 at 7:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

An unusual number of players who were eligible to sign rookie scale extensions prior to Monday’s deadline inked new deals. A total of 14 players received rookie scale extensions in 2023, blowing away the previous single-year record of 11.

However, nearly half of the 27 eligible players didn’t sign a contract and thus will head to restricted free agency, if they are extended qualifying offers by their respective teams after the season. Otherwise, they’ll be unrestricted free agents next summer.

Perhaps the biggest name on the list is Sixers star guard Tyrese Maxey, though that comes with an asterisk. The Sixers front office and Maxey mutually agreed to put off an extension so that Philadelphia could maximize its cap room next summer.

Immanuel Quickley and Patrick Williams are two of the other big-time names on the list who didn’t reach agreements with their teams. While the Knicks and Quickley’s reps — as well as the Bulls and Williams’ reps — held extension talks as the deadline neared, they couldn’t come to terms on the numbers.

Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn (Raptors), Saddiq Bey (Hawks), James Wiseman and Killian Hayes (Pistons), Kira Lewis (Pelicans), Chuma Okeke (Magic), Isaac Okoro (Cavaliers), Aleksej Pokusevski (Thunder) and Obi Toppin (Pacers) are the other eligible players who didn’t sign extensions.

A full list of the players who did, or did not, sign rookie scale extensions this offseason can be found here.

Hawks Sign Onyeka Okongwu To Four-Year Extension

October 23rd, 2023 at 5:46pm CST by Luke Adams

5:46pm: The deal is official, the Hawks have confirmed in a press release.

4:47pm: The Hawks have reached an extension agreement with center Onyeka Okongwu, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link), who hears from agent Sam Goldfeder that the two sides are completing a four-year, $62MM deal.

Okongwu, who will turn 23 in December, was the sixth overall pick in the 2020 draft. He has primarily come off the bench in his first three professional seasons, starting just 28 of 178 games for Atlanta.

However, Okongwu has gradually taken on a more significant role each year, setting new career highs in points (9.9), rebounds (7.2), and minutes (23.1) per game in 80 appearances in 2022/23 and posting impressive offensive rebounding numbers following the arrival of Quin Snyder, per Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). He projects to take on more responsibilities in the Hawks’ frontcourt this season with big man John Collins no longer on the roster.

While $15.5MM per year is a substantial price to pay for a reserve, it could turn out to be a bargain if Okongwu continues to improve and eventually replaces Clint Capela as Atlanta’s starting center. Capela’s name popped up in trade rumors this offseason and it wouldn’t be a surprise if that happens again in the coming months now that the team has made a long-term commitment to Okongwu.

His long-term contract agreement with the Hawks ensures that Okongwu becomes part of a record-setting class of rookie scale extension recipients in 2023. He’s the 14th players to agree to a rookie scale extension this year, blowing away the previous record of 11, which was set in 2021 and matched in 2022.

Hawks forward Saddiq Bey was also among the players eligible to sign a rookie scale extension by Monday’s 5:00 pm CT deadline, but he didn’t reach a deal with the team, sources tell Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

Extension Rumors: McDaniels, P. Williams, Bey, Mann, J. Green

October 22nd, 2023 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The five-year deal that Devin Vassell signed with San Antonio, which will be worth at least $135MM, plus incentives, threw a “grenade” into some other rookie scale extension negotiations around the NBA, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on the latest episode of his Lowe Post podcast.

However, even before word of Vassell’s extension broke, Lowe had heard that Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels was seeking a “large amount of money” on a potential new deal with Minnesota. Lowe believes that McDaniels is in position to command a significant payday.

“If I’m Jaden McDaniels, I’m saying, ‘That dude (Vassell) got ($135MM+) playing 38 games on a s—t team with no stakes?'” Lowe said. “‘I didn’t average 18-and-a-half (points) per game, but I shot it well from three. I’m already an All-Defense-level player. You guys – Minnesota, all you people I’m negotiating with, the brass – expressed outrage that I didn’t make an All-Defensive team, so you obviously agree that I’m one of the 10 best defensive players in the NBA.

“Yeah, I punched a wall, sorry. (But) I’m essential to your team in a critical two- or three-year period. I’m a winning three-and-D player, and watch me do a little bit more with the ball this year. Pay up. Pay up.'”

While Lowe thinks that McDaniels would be warranted in seeking an annual salary of at least $30MM per year, his ESPN colleague Bobby Marks suggested that an extension worth in the neighborhood of $134MM over five years (just below Vassell’s deal) might make sense for both the player and the team.

Here are a few more notes on possible extension candidates around the NBA:

Bulls forward Patrick Williams, who is eligible for a rookie scale extension, is one player whose asking price may be influenced by Vassell’s new contract, according to Lowe. “I’m hearing Patrick Williams wants big numbers. Like, starts with a two and isn’t two-zero kind of stuff,” Lowe said, expressing skepticism that Chicago will go anywhere near that high for the forward. “… If that ends up being true and the Vassell deal ends up being the comp that his agents go to – which is what I would do if I were them – that’s a lot of cheese. Go to restricted free agency and get it.”
Here’s what Lowe had to say on the Hawks‘ rookie scale extension negotiations with forward Saddiq Bey: “$18 to $20 (million per year) is an interesting conversation with Saddiq Bey, because it’s enough above the mid-level that he’s got to think about it. I’ve heard those negotiations have not been going great. I don’t think Atlanta’s gotten to that level yet.”
Terance Mann, who is in the first season of a two-year, $22MM extension he signed with the Clippers in 2021, will be eligible to sign a new deal up until Monday, but he told reporters on Saturday that a preseason extension is “not happening” (Twitter link via Justin Russo). Mann will be extension-eligible again next offseason, so there’s no rush for either side to get something done now. Of course, it’s also worth noting that the 27-year-old – whose inclusion has been a sticking point in the James Harden trade talks between L.A. and Philadelphia – would be ineligible to be dealt this season if he signs an extension with a raise exceeding 5%.
The Mavericks and wing Josh Green continue to discuss a possible rookie scale extension ahead of Monday’s deadline, league sources tell Marc Stein (Twitter link).