The summer of 2016 will likely go down as one of the most impactful offseasons in NBA history, and one that the Atlanta Hawks fell prey to as well.
With the NBA salary cap jumping an immense $24 million that summer due to a new television deal, teams decided it was a good time to dole out some of the worst contracts in NBA history, and that is exactly what they did. Oh boy, did they.
With every single team flush with exorbitant sums of money, almost no team got away scot-free, and some teams (sorry Lakers fans) were laden with contracts that were almost immediately immovable as soon as pen was put to paper.
Even the Hawks, who at the time were helmed at GM head coach Mike Budenholzer, were not immune to this excess funding, as Bud signed both Kent Bazemore (understandable) and hometown “hero” Dwight Howard (oof) to huge, multi-year deals.
More from Soaring Down South
- Start, Bench, Cut: Sorting through the Hawks’ power forward options
- Hawks’ Bogdan Bogdanovic reacts to earning FIBA World Cup championship bid
- When does training camp start for the Atlanta Hawks?
- Grade the trade: Hawks deal Trae Young to Clippers in shocking proposal
- Dejounte Murray rips NBA 2K after Atlanta Hawks ratings reveal
Though Kent Bazemore’s is looking not bad, the Dwight Howard experiment only lasted one season in Atlanta before being moved to Charlotte for spare parts and another bad contract signed that summer (Miles Plumlee).
Many teams are still languishing beneath those decisions made in the summer of 2016, and their consequences are far-reaching, but even still, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Luckily for those teams, the lowly Hawks, atop their noble steed of $30 million in cap space, can come riding in and save other teams by taking on some of those terrible contracts at the low, low price of a draft pick or two.
We’ve outlined some of the worst contracts from the summer of 2016 that Atlanta could take on, and what the Hawks might be asking for in return.