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Who Would the Atlanta Hawks Protect In an Expansion Draft?

By Dallin Duffy

ATLANTA, GA - NOVEMBER 21: Vince Carter #15 of the Atlanta Hawks reacts with Trae Young #11 and Dewayne Dedmon #14 after scoring his 25,000th NBA point in the final seconds of their 124-108 loss to the Toronto Raptors at State Farm Arena on November 21, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - NOVEMBER 21: Vince Carter #15 of the Atlanta Hawks reacts with Trae Young #11 and Dewayne Dedmon #14 after scoring his 25,000th NBA point in the final seconds of their 124-108 loss to the Toronto Raptors at State Farm Arena on November 21, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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Who would the Atlanta Hawks protect in a hypothetical NBA expansion draft?

Climate Pledge Arena was announced as the new name for the Seattle arena earlier this week. While the arena is currently only planned to be used for the un-named Seattle NHL team, the announcement sparked interest from NBA fans as well, wondering if the renovated stadium could draw back the Supersonics.

Seattle is simply too big of a market to not have an NBA team, and whenever a team goes up for sale, there are always rumors of them moving to the Emerald City. Now, it seems more likely that if Seattle were to get a team, it’d be through expansion and not relocation.

That would bring an NBA expansion draft, something that hasn’t happened since the Charlotte Bobcats were birthed in 2004.

How does this involve the Atlanta Hawks? Well, if there was an expansion draft, the Sonics (or whatever new team) would make up their rosters entirely through currently existing NBA players. Going by the rules the league set in 2004, the Hawks would get to protect just eight players, with the rest being up for grabs.

All players under contract and upcoming restricted free agents are eligible to be picked leaving the Atlanta Hawks pool of possible players to be:

With 11 players possible to be selected and only eight protections to give, the Atlanta Hawks would have to put at least three possible players in the draft. Who would those be?

Trae Young is an easy lock, as are fellow youngsters Cam Reddish, Kevin Huerter, John Collins, and De’Andre Hunter. That’s five, and it’s very unlikely the Hawks just give up on Clint Capela months after acquiring him so we’ll make him protected to for six.

That leaves Goodwin, Bembry, Labissière, Dedmon, and Fernando to fight for the final two spots, and we’ll give them to Fernando and Goodwin. That means Dedmon, Bembry, and Labissière will be eligible to be drafted.

DeAndre’ Bembry is unlikely to be on the team next year anyway and Skal Labissière (who never played for the team) is a long shot to make the roster as well.

The only true loss is Dewayne Dedmon, and the Hawks will just have to roll the dice and hope the expansion team doesn’t select the 30-year-old center.

Again, this was all hypothetical as while an expansion team could be coming soon, it definitely won’t be this summer.

Next. One Potential free agent signing from the Brooklyn Nets. dark

What do you think? Which eight Atlanta Hawks would you protect if the NBA had an expansion draft?