Atlanta Hawks: 5 trade options to replace John Collins

Atlanta Hawks: trade option at PF No. 2: Christian Wood signed with the Houston Rockets just last season but may still be available

Houston Rockets center Christian Wood is in a similar situation to Grant. A former Piston himself, Wood finally got his chance at a regular starting role and delivered for the still-woeful Rockets. And with there not being much of a path to immediate relevance in a tough, crowded West, it could serve Houston to continue planning for the future.

Wood will turn just 26 just before the start of next season, so it’s not as though he couldn’t be part of a rebuild.

But, again like Grant, his contract is up in just two years.

It could make more sense to lock in a player like Collins who profile much like Wood, who is three years younger. Perhaps they would accept some other form of compensation but the price tag without Collins would be high.

Though he played center for Houston, many also believe Wood is better suited to play the four (hence why he’s listed here) but that versatility could allow them to get more of their talented wing depth on the floor without sacrificing shooting as the 6-foot-10 Wood shot 37.4 percent from deep on 5.0 attempts per game.

Wood isn’t a bad free-throw shooter; he hit over 74 percent in his final year with Detroit. But he only converted 63 percent this past season in Houston.

Perhaps a move back to power forward — where he entered the league and spent his first five seasons — would allow him to improve already solid efficiency while maintaining his newfound level of production.

He did sign just this past offseason, though. And the Rockets, who have other plans on who to deal, have some interesting pieces in Kevin Porter, Jae’Sean Tate, and others. It might take their having interest in Collins already to help facilitate a deal like this. And both teams could realistically look at it and see it as too lateral of a move to pull off.

That’s just part of why sign-and-trades don’t happen often in the NBA. Still, this might be the least disruptive big move the Hawks could make.