How Many Games Will the Atlanta Hawks Win in 2018-19?
By Chris Guest
On the long road to a rebuild, the Atlanta Hawks will likely be one of the worst teams in the league next year. But how many games will they win?
In year two of what is expected to be a long and arduous rebuild, the Atlanta Hawks picked up multiple important players this offseason – both for the short- and long-term development of the team.
Steady, seen-it-all veterans like Jeremy Lin and Vince Carter were added alongside younger vets like Alex Len and Justin Anderson to new franchise cornerstones such as Trae Young and Kevin Huerter in what was one of the most action-packed and entertaining Hawks offseasons in recent memory.
Of course, the offseason is only a prelude to what is the main course: the 2018-19 NBA regular season.
The Atlanta Hawks are expected to be one of the worst teams in the league next season, as Las Vegas oddsmakers have predictably proffered up the lowest over/unders for wins in the league for Atlanta next year at 23.5.
That seems pretty accurate, but let’s dig deep on the probabilities for wins for next year for the Hawks:
More than 40 wins: 0% chance
The Hawks will almost certainly be way, way out of the playoff race unless some of the young players take off far ahead of schedule. While not out of the realm of slim possibility, there is almost no way the Hawks will win more than 40 games.
35-40 wins: 2% chance
Sure, the Eastern Conference is much weaker than it was last year, as the great migration of talent from East to West continues unabated now that LeBron James is on the Lakers.
A two percent chance to sniff upper 30s in wins might seem like a stretch (sadly), but let’s stay positive and think that the Hawks have a two percent chance to challenge Detroit or Charlotte for the 8th spot next year.