NBA Free Agency: Hawks Should Take a Chance on Jabari Parker
By Chris Guest
As more and more big names dwindle in NBA Free Agency, the Atlanta Hawks been relatively quiet so far.
The Hawks have lost no one and gained no one in free agency, only adding players to the roster via the draft or undrafted free agents.
One of our preferred targets, Zach LaVine out of Chicago, was signed to a titanic 4-year/$81 million deal by the Kings, which the Bulls matched a few hours later.
That leaves the Hawks in the enviable position of being perhaps the only team remaining with cap space in order to take on bad salary or perhaps take a swing on a high-upside player remaining on the free agency market.
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
We’ve already outlined a few options regarding the former option, and there is one player in particular regarding the latter that might make for a good fit on the Hawks’ youthful new squad; the Hawks should seriously consider signing Jabari Parker of the Bucks to a long-term deal if his medicals come back clean.
Parker, the #2 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, is still only 23 years old and would provide the Hawks with yet another young player to develop in the coming years of the rebuild.
A dynamic offensive player, Parker would provide the Hawks with a gifted scoring wing with size, athleticism and speed – something that always comes in handy in the NBA.
Though he’s only played 82 combined games over the past two seasons (51 in 2016-17 and 31 last season), Parker still has plenty of untapped potential on both ends, something that playing alongside talented playmakers like Trae Young and Kevin Huerter might bring out of him.