Atlanta Hawks: Revisiting the Tony Snell/Dewayne Dedmon trade
One of the moves that the Atlanta Hawks made in the offseason was to trade Dewayne Dedmon to the Detroit Pistons. In return, they received Khyri Thomas and Tony Snell. The Hawks then waived Thomas and took a cap hit of just under $1.0 million for this season.
The main reason for the trade was to get Dedmon’s salary off the books for next season when the Hawks are looking to re-sign John Collins. Snell is due $12 million this season but it is an expiring deal. The problem, if you can call it that is that, is that Snell has been a success with the Hawks.
The same can not be said for Dedmon who was waived by the Pistons before playing a game. He was without a contract until he signed a deal with the Miami Heat for the remainder of the season. In the game where the Hawks played the Heat, Dedmon looked slow and out of sync with the speed of the NBA.
The Atlanta Hawks certainly won the Tony Snell trade.
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At the start of the season, when Snell was out with injury, it looked like the Hawks had only won the deal due to getting Dedmon’s salary off the books. Snell was then considered the worst contact on the Hawks’ books. However, that was under Lloyd Pierce.
Snell has flourished under Nate McMillan. He was already shooting the 3-ball at a good clip but thanks to the structure of McMillan, Snell started shooting the ball even better and is leading the NBA in 3-point percentage, including hitting the game-winner against the Toronto Raptors.
On top of that, Snell is playing his usual high-level defense which has helped the Hawks, particularly through the injury issues they have suffered through this season. He is currently out with another injury bur when he is in the lineup, he is a crucial piece of the bench unit but also showed that he could start and make an impact.
The best case scenario for the Hawks is that they can sign Snell to a team friendly contract next season. There is going to be a lot ofmoney splashed around by teams who have large cap=space that they were saving for the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, which never happened.
Bogdan Bogdanovic is showing his true potential. dark. Next
This could mean that Snell goes to another team who may have the chance to contend. However, the best chance for the Hawks to secure Snell’s services for next season is to show that he will be on a contender for years to come.