The Atlanta Hawks are having a decent preseason. They have not won a game but they are assessing the talents of a number of fringe players. They are also figuring out where Cam Reddish fits into the rotation, could he start for the team?
The 15th roster spot is still up for grabs and head coach Nate McMillan is giving every one of the fringe players the chance to show their worth. In the first preseason game, Jahlil Okafor was the fringe player who performed at the highest level for the franchise.
The Hawks have also given A.J. Lawson an opportunity to show that he was worth a spot on their regular-season roster. Unfortunately for the guard, his skill set was not one that the Hawks were after and he was waived per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic.
The Atlanta Hawks wasted no time replacing A.J. Lawson.
In the same tweet, Kirschner also noted that the Hawks had signed DaQuan Jeffries to a partially guaranteed deal. It appears that the Hawks are leaving no stone unturned in an effort to find the right player to fill the 15th roster spot, a championship could depend on it.
Jeffries, a 6’5″ shooting guard out of Tulsa has played two years in the league. He started his career by signing a contract with the Orlando Magic and was waived prior to the season starting. He was then claimed off waivers by the Sacramento Kings where he was signed to a two-way deal.
Jeffries would play 31 games with the Kings over a season and a half. He averaged 3.6 points and 1.5 rebounds prior to being waived. He was picked up by the Houston Rockets off waivers and played 13 games where he averaged 4.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists.
He was waived by the Rockets and picked up by the San Antonio Spurs late in the season where he did not play a game for the varsity squad. Jeffries has a long road ahead to get the 15th spot but now he is in the race for it.