Ranking the three best and worst moves of Travis Schlenk since taking over as the Atlanta Hawks’ GM.
The Atlanta Hawks hired Travis Schlenk on May 25th, 2017. He came over after working in the Golden State Warriors organization since 2004, assistant GM since 2014. Schlenk took over a Hawks team ready to begin a rebuild and he rebuild he did.
Only two players who were on the team when Schlenk was hired – DeAndre’ Bembry and Dewayne Dedmon – are still in Atlanta just a few years later. He’s been a very active GM, and a very good one too.
Schlenk took a blank slate roster and turned in them into a team stacked with young talent, ready to make a playoff push next season after just a few years running things.
Here I tried to rank the three best and three worst moves Schlenk has made, but it was as hard to decide which were actually the best three out of all his savvy moves, as it was finding three moves that would be considered bad.
While there’s no basketball being played right now, let’s take a look at the three best and worst moves Travis Schlenk has made as the Atlanta Hawks GM.
Third Worst Move – Trading Omari Spellman
Schlenk traded Omari Spellman to the Warriors back in July 2019, receiving a 2026 second-rounder and center Damian Jones in return. At the time, it was odd to see the Hawks give up on Spellman, the 30th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, after just one season, and it only got worse when he looked much improved in Golden State.
Spellman’s numbers shot up across the board upon landing in San Francisco, starring for the injury-plagued Warriors, even looking like someone the team could play even when Steph and Klay are back at full health.
Meanwhile, two-time Finals champion Damian Jones never looked comfortable in a larger role with the Hawks, struggling to fit the team’s pace-and-space style of play. Schlenk acquired two more centers (Clint Capela and Dewayne Dedmon) during the season so it’s safe to say Jones won’t be apart of the plan going forward.
The 2026 pick ended up coming in handy, with it being included in the trade to acquire Capela, a trade we’ll get to later.
Omari was traded to Minnesota at the deadline as a part of the D’Angelo Russell, Andrew Wiggins deal but the 22-year-old showed enough promise to grind out a long career in the NBA. Jones, on the other hand, might have a hard time finding a spot on an NBA roster next season.
Third Best Move – The Taurean Prince Trade
I wrote about this a few months back, but moving off of Taurean Prince when the Atlanta Hawks did was very smart. GMs are often hesitant to move young talent still on their first rookie deals, as scenarios like the Spellman one happen often.
Schlenk trading Taurean Prince was not only good timing but all the moving pieces involved were integral to future trades.
Prince has yet to show improvement since his breakout season with the Hawks in 2017-2018. His numbers were down in Brooklyn this year and with Kevin Durant coming to take his starting role, the 26-year-old forward is suddenly in a make-or-break situation.
They received two firsts and veteran Allen Crabbe for Prince, all of which were dealt again in the next few months.
The 2019 first-rounder helped the Hawks moved up from the eighth pick to the fourth pick for they could draft De’Andre Hunter. Allen Crabbe was traded to Minnesota for Jeff Teague and Treveon Graham, and the 2020 first was the main piece that helped the Hawks land Clint Capela.
Although there were a few other pieces (a few second-rounders and Evan Turner for money purposes), you could essentially look at the deal as trading Taurean Prince and the eighth pick for Clint Capela and the fourth pick. Not bad.
Second Worst Move – Baze Trade and 2020 Vets
While the 2018-2019 Atlanta Hawks weren’t exactly world-beaters, they did overachieve a bit thanks to having a solid group of veterans to play next to their young guys: Vince Carter, Kent Bazemore, Jeremy Lin, Miles Plumlee, and Dewayne Dedmon.
The 2019-2020 team saw only Vince return, with all the rest leaving in trades or free agency. Schlenk tried to repeat that veteran success but failed for the most part.
Allen Crabbe, Evan Turner, and Chandler Parsons all looked like they rather be anywhere else than Atlanta, and were quickly moved out of the rotation after just a few months.
All three were off the team by the deadline, with Schlenk bringing in Jeff Teague to help fill that vet role, which he did much better.
Perhaps most disappointing was trading fan-favorite Kent Bazemore for Evan Turner after a few years of Baze being in trade rumors. Some projected the Hawks might be able to fetch true future assets for Bazemore. Instead, they got just19 games out of Turner.
Second Best Move – The Trae and Luka Swap
Definitely the riskiest move of Schlenk’s career, the draft-night trade of Luka Doncic might be what he’ll be best remembered for whenever he retires.
With the third pick of the 2018 NBA Draft, the Atlanta Hawks selected Doncic, with reports quickly following that they’d be flipping him to Dallas. As a Maverick, Luka has been sensational, MVP-worthy, and (if he stays healthy) is already on track for a Hall of Fame career.
Trading someone with that talent and that potential would almost certainly be on many GM’s list of worst moves, but Schlenk acquired another MVP-worthy, potential future Hall of Famer in return.
The Hawks received the fifth pick and the Mavs’ 2019 first-rounder for Doncic, which became Trae Young and Cam Reddish. While Luka is currently a better all-around player than Trae, the combination of Young and Reddish could prove to be better than Doncic alone.
For the trade to be seen as anything but a massive loss for the Hawks they needed both Trae and Cam to pan out, which looks like it might happen.
Obviously Young is already an All-Star starter, fourth in the league in points per game and an absolute offensive superstar. Cam, on the other hand, had a very rough start to his career before slowly turning things around in 2020.
Both will be building blocks for the future of Atlanta basketball, and given the way Hawks fans have taken in both Young and Reddish, Schlenk would likely do this trade again if given the chance.
Worst Move – The return for Schröder
Don’t get me wrong here, trading Dennis Schröder was needed. Despite being far and away the Hawks’ best player in 2017-2018, Schlenk needed to move on from Dennis, the one player who was truly entering his prime on the team.
The problem is what the Hawks got in return: not much. They gave up Schröder and quality backup big Mike Muscala for Justin Anderson, a 2022 lottery-protected first and the right to buy out Carmelo Anthony‘s contract.
Justin Anderson is now in the G-League after a year of mediocre play in Atlanta, the Thunder might be heading towards a rebuild, and if their pick lands in the top-14 in 2022, the Hawks will get two second-rounders instead, and Atlanta paid Carmelo $25 million last year for him to not play for them.
Meanwhile, Dennis Schröder’s career is having a second-wind in OKC, turning into a Sixth Man of the Year candidate by posting multiple career-highs off the bench.
Again, trading Schröder was the right move. It gave Trae Young tons of room to develop and improve. But the return the Hawks got is already bad, and it’ll be abysmal if the 2022 pick doesn’t transfer.
Best Move – Hitting On the 19th Pick, Twice
The NBA Draft is such a crapshoot. Realistically only five or six, maybe a few more players in each draft class become quality starters in the league. It’s especially hard to find talent outside the lottery, which Schlenk did in each of his first two drafts.
In both 2017 and 2018 (via Minnesota), the Hawks had the 19th overall pick in the draft. The odds of Schlenk finding a player who could be seen as a franchise cornerstone with one of those selections were slim, and doing it in both was even smaller.
He pulled it off, however, taking John Collins in ’18 and Kevin Huerter a year later. Both players went onto make the NBA’s All-Rookie Team and look to be a key contributor for the Atlanta Hawks moving forward.
It’s hard to give him too much credit for the Collins pick, as he kind of fell into their lap. JC was seen as a lottery-talent by most, and him falling to 19 was a draft-night surprise and a no-brainer for Atlanta.
Huerter was different. A late-riser on big boards thanks to a strong showing at the combine, but some mock drafts still had him in the late first before the draft. There were sexier options (at the time) on the table like Aaron Holiday, Mo Wagner, and Robert Williams, but Schlenk grabbed one of the best guards in the entire draft at 19.
Finding a stud in the middle of the first-round is rare enough, and doing it in back-to-back summers was truly a feat for Travis Schlenk.
Here to many more years of Travis Schlenk running the Atlanta Hawks.