How Okongwu Pick Will Change the Rest of the Atlanta Hawks Offseason

How the 2020 NBA Draft will change the rest of the Atlanta Hawks’ offseason.

The Atlanta Hawks selected USC big man Onyeka Okongwu in the 2020 NBA Draft. Doing so, they not only fortified their frontcourt, they changed the entire trajectory of their offseason. By taking a rim-running forward, the Hawks left two big openings on their team: guard and wing help.

The fallout from this selection has already started, with the team trading center Dewayne Dedmon to Detroit for Tony Snell and Khyri Thomas.

Thomas will be waived, but it looks like Snell will stick around with the team. It’s a good pickup, giving the Hawks a bit more cap space, wing depth, and a solid two-way player. If they had taken a forward like Isaac Okoro or Deni Avdija in the draft, it’s very unlikely that they would do a deal like this.

The moving of Dedmon allows them to pick up another member of the frontcourt, such as Jerami Grant or Danilo Gallinari, the latter of which they’ve been rumored to be in “pole position” to sign.

They also had the opportunity to take point guards Tyrese Haliburton or Killian Hayes instead of Okongwu. Given that they’re going to waive Thomas, they’re certainly in position to grab a veteran point guard to back up Trae Young.

They’ve been rumored to be interested in Rajon Rondo which would make sense, as would re-signing Jeff Teague. Brandon Goodwin is still on the roster as well.

Overall, the selection of Okongwu was a good one, which we’ll cover more here shortly. But it definitely changed the rest of the Atlanta Hawks’ offseason, which is certainly far from over.

What do you think the Atlanta Hawks will do in the rest of this crazy offseason?