Ranking the last 10 Atlanta Hawks first-round picks
By Nate Friesen
10. Adreian Payne
This is pretty rough. Adreian Payne was selected 15th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks and only ended up playing three games for the team before being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a 2018 first-round pick.
This is honestly a pretty impressive trade return for a guy that averaged 1.7 points and 1.3 rebounds per game in just three games for the Hawks, according to Basketball-Reference. It’s made even sweeter considering the 2018 draft pick from the Timberwolves turned into the one and only Kevin Huerter.
Not only did Payne play a measly three games for the Hawks but he only ended up playing in a total of four NBA seasons before taking his talents overseas. Even though Payne had an impressive college career at Michigan State where he was named to two All Big-Ten second-teams and had some awesome NCAA tournament runs, he could just never figure it out in the NBA.
Even taking into consideration the pick the Hawks got in return for Payne. The fact that he was selected in the middle of the first round and only played in a total of four NBA seasons easily makes him the worst of the Hawks last ten draft picks and frankly it isn’t even close.