The Atlanta Hawks may still re-sign John Collins next year

After playing a month of the season, Atlanta Hawks power forward John Collins has done nothing to harm his potential value in the next free agency period. Collins and the Hawks were unable to agree to terms for a contract extension and now Bleacher Report has him at fourth in the free agency class.

When Giannis Antetokounmpo decided to ante up and sign his max contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, Collins was always going to be highly sought after next offseason. Two of the three players above him are potentially not even going to be on the market.

Both Chris Paul and Kawhi Leonard have player options. Paul is not going to decline over $40 million per season and it will take the wheels falling off for the LA Clippers for Leonard to decline his player option.

How the Atlanta Hawks have hope of keeping John Collins.

The reason Collins is such a highly regarded free agent is his levels of production is through the roof over four years. Andrew Bailey of Bleacher Report goes into it here.

"Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns are the only players in league history who have matched or exceeded his marks for points, rebounds, blocks and threes per 75 possessions through their first four seasons."

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These are some pretty special names to be associated with and it means that teams are going to have to offer some pretty significant money for the Hawks forward to leave. What is the reason? He is a restricted free agent.

Due to the restricted nature of his free agency, the Hawks have the right to match any deal offered to Collins. These numbers are going to be high but as things stand, the Hawks have only $100 million in committed salary next season.

Collins may be looking to test his value in free agency but the Hawks still have the ultimate power in this relationship. If the Hawks get all their players back on the court, they might start making some noise in the playoffs. If this happens then Collins may not even entertain offers from other teams.

There is plenty of water to pass under the bridge and it is possible that Collins is being influenced to stay by the play of Clint Capela. Trae Young may also be diversifying his offense to include others earlier in the shot clock as Collins wanted. Watch this space to see what happens next.