Atlanta Hawks 2019 Offseason Grades: Trading Omari Spellman to Warriors
By Chris Guest
Our offseason grades series rolls on for each move the Atlanta Hawks made this offseason. In this edition, we dissect the trade of Omari Spellman to the Golden State Warriors.
Omari Spellman was the final pick of the first round in the 2018 NBA Draft, which saw the Atlanta Hawks select him, Trae Young at #5 overall and Kevin Huerter at #19 overall.
The latter two of those picks have looked like heists for Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk, while the selection of Spellman at #30, while a promising choice, did not quite work out the same way.
When Spellman was selected, there was a fair amount of head-scratching and hand-wringing from draftniks and Hawks fans. For one thing, just ponder a player who was selected a mere 6 picks later that had an extremely promising rookie year and fills a position of need for the team as a rim-protecting five: Mitchell Robinson of the New York Knicks.
Of course, Schlenk is renowned far and wide for his devotion to three-point shooting, and the selection of Spellman seemed to dovetail with Schlenk’s desire to create a free-flowing offense in which shooting could be found at every position.
However, Spellman never truly got into game shape though he did show myriad flashes in his short time with the Hawks. Despite those flashes, he did not look particularly engaged or fit in Summer League leading the Hawks to trade him to the Warriors.
The parameters of the deal were as follows:
Hawks get Damian Jones and a 2026 unprotected second round pick; Warriors receive Omari Spellman.
Seems like a simple player-for-player deal, but that sweetener of an unprotected second round pick is actually quite attractive, as Stephen Curry will be 38 and Klay Thompson will be 36 when that pick goes live – not a bad haul for a player that didn’t look NBA-ready throughout the early portion of his career in Spellman.
Grade: B+
Next. Hawks Projected Starting Lineup for 2019-20. dark
Giving up on a player after only one season is often a tad premature, but if Schlenk and his Atlanta Hawks front office had seen enough, let’s trust in their judgment – which has been pretty sound so far during the rebuild.