Atlanta Hawks: How much should John Collins’ contract be worth?

Determining Atlanta Hawks forward John Collins’ contract value: A max deal for Collins would be $125 million

That is no small chunk of change. It means even more with Kevin Huerter rookie extension eligible, De’Andre Hunter right behind him, and Trae Young’s inevitable max deal. The Hawks also have some expensive free agents with a few years left on their deals in Clint Capela and Danilo Gallinari.

More from Free Agency

• The Atlanta Hawks need to look at this free agent big man
• 13 Free agents the Atlanta Hawks can pursue to strengthen the roster
• Five must have players for the Atlanta Hawks
• Have we seen the last of this Atlanta Hawks star?
• Atlanta Hawks: A Paul Millsap reunion may not be happening

Over 40 active players averaged at least what Collins’ max would be last season. So let’s narrow down the list to players who signed at age 23, as Collins won’t turn 24 until September.

That brings the number to just six players.

The only power forward on the list is Kristaps Porzingis and we know his deal — which paid him $31 million last season — has not aged particularly well. Injuries and circumstances have played a huge role in that though so we’ll focus on the group of six.

Bam Adebayo, Brandon Ingram, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and D’Angelo Russell round out the rest of the group. Admittedly it’s a talented but mixed bag of results.

Jokic won MVP this past season and Joel Embiid finished in second. At the same time, Ingram and Russel have both teased if not disappointed us with their flashes of ability. That’s just another way of saying both players are inconsistent.

Adebayo is the best comp as a big and the second-best player on a team that made a deep playoff run with the Heat reaching the Finals last season in the Orlando bubble. Like Collins, Adebayo also has a very diverse skill set that makes it more challenging for a team than some instances to place a dollar amount.

His deal came in at the same amount as Collins’ max would in the first year, $28.1 million, but did so amid much consternation over hamstringing the organization going forward.

But it’s too soon to say whether or not Adebayo’s deal was worth it, though certainly say so. And with the rest of the pool giving less than stellar returns on investment, it’s easy to see why we say Travis Schlenk has his work cut out for him. He’s been lights out to this point.