Isma’il Muhammad Rumors

Hawks Waive Keith Benson, Isma’il Muhammad

October 11th, 2012 at 4:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

After foreshadowing the moves via Twitter, Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the Hawks have waived training camp invitees Keith Benson and Isma'il Muhammad, bringing the team's roster down to 17 players. Both were on non-guaranteed minimum-salary contracts.

Benson, a 6'11" big man, got into three games for the Warriors last season, but didn't score in nine minutes and wasn't retained after his 10-day contract expired. The 6'6" Muhammad was a college star in Atlanta with Georgia Tech, but went undrafted in 2005 and is still seeking his first official NBA action.

The Hawks have 14 players under partially or fully guaranteed deals, so today's moves seem to narrow the competition for the final roster spot to James Anderson, Damion James and Carldell Johnson, none of whom are big men. The lone partial guarantee belongs to Kyle Korver. The Hawks could buy out his $5MM deal for $500K, but it seems unlikely they'd do so.

Hawks Sign Isma’il Muhammad

October 1st, 2012 at 2:50pm CST by Luke Adams

The Hawks have added former Georgia Tech forward Isma'il Muhammad to their training camp roster, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Consitution (via Twitter). Muhammad is the 19th player under contract for the Hawks.

Muhammad was considered a solid defender and an outstanding dunker during his days at Georgia Tech. The 29-year-old graduated back in 2005, but was in an NBA camp as recently as last December — he was waived by the Bobcats just a few days before the season started.

With 14 players on fully or partially guaranteed contracts in Atlanta, and guys like Damion James and James Anderson expected to compete for the 15th spot, I'd expect Muhammad to be an extra body in camp, rather than a real candidate to earn a roster spot.