Atlanta Hawks Trade For Dewayne Demon: Grades

Grading the Atlanta Hawks’ trade for former center Dewayne Dedmon.

The Atlanta Hawks made a second trade in as many days, acquiring former center Dewayne Dedmon. They sent Alex Len and Jabari Parker to the Kings in the deal, in which the Hawks also get two second-rounders.

Dedmon spent the last two seasons serving as the Hawks primary starting five, signing a 3-year, $40 million deal with Sacramento.

From the start Dedmon didn’t get with the Kings, and his stats have shown that. He’s averaged less than half points per game this season that last year in Atlanta, when he averaged a career best 10.8.

He’s a stretch five who can got hot in a flash. He shot 38% from deep on 3.4 attempts a season ago.

The addition obviously comes less than a day after they added another center in Clint Capela, and they’re obviously taking strides to improve on their worst position by far. When Capela recovers from his heel injury, Dedmon will likely come off the bench for the Hawks. Dedmond could easily end up appearing before Capela.

It marks the end of Alex Len and Jabari Parker in Atlanta, the latter of which has now been traded at back-to-back deadlines after going from Chicago to Washington in 2019.

Neither have been healthy of late, with the two playing a combined two games since January 12th. Len was set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, while Parker had a player option that could have allowed him to be the same.

The two second-rounders coming to the Hawks are in the years 2020 and 2021, but it was not specified if they had any protections. They have several 2nd rounders besides their own in those two years, including the Pistons and Rockets in 2020, and the Grizzlies’ and Miami’s in 2021, as well as their own in both.

Dedmon is a good addition, who like Capela, can help them win this season, as well as in the future. He’s on year one of a deal that keeps him in Atlanta until the summer of 2022.

The genius of this trade are the picks, as while the Hawks let Dedmon walked last Summer, they get him right back alongside those two second-rounders, only giving up basically two expiring deals. The Hawks didn’t have a 2020 second-round pick before this trade.

He was a fan and player favorite in his two years on the team, and is a dang good stretch five, especially off the bench. He’ll help the interior defense and rebounding, and should look to restart the high motor play he was known for in Atlanta but hasn’t shown up in Sacramento.

It’s a great, smart trade, as the Hawks suddenly have their future at the five spot locked down.

Grade: A+