Re-Grading the Atlanta Hawks trade for Delon Wright
In the 2020 offseason, the Atlanta Hawks signed Kris Dunn and Rajon Rondo in an effort to help solve their issues at the backup point guard position. It is safe to say, that neither of these players worked out as the Hawks would have wanted. Rondo was traded for Lou Williams and Kris Dunn had to be traded in the last offseason, his deal bringing Delon Wright to the franchise.
To recap, Dunn and Bruno Fernando were sent to the Boston Celtics for Tristan Thompson who the Hawksthen flipped to the Sacramento Kings for Wright. The 6’5″ combo guard was meant to bring a level of offense when Trae Young takes a rest.
Unfortunately, the Hawks have not seen the benefit of Wright to any great degree. He has averaged 4.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 0.8 steals in 17.6 minutes per game. He has not been a great fit with the Hawks’ young core.
Can the Atlanta Hawks make good on the Delon Wright situation?
The positive of Wright is that he is playing tremendous defense. However, if the Hawks wanted defense only they could have kept Dunn and Fernando and saved themselves a couple of million dollars. No, Wright needs to do more than that.
The problem is that Wright is struggling to find the flow of the offense. On his previous teams, Wright has had multiple seasons where he has averaged more than 10.0 points per game. He is not looking like that kind of scorer when coming off the bench for the Hawks.
Earlier in the season, it looked like the combination of Williams and Wright was going to be one of the better reserve unit backcourts. A combination of Covid and injuries has curtailed the effectiveness of the pair.
Next. A three-team trade to add a second scorer for the Hawks. dark
Wright has struggled to even get the strength and timing off his passes right. There have been multiple occasions where Wright’s inability to hit a player in the right spot with the correctly weighted passes has resulted in a turnover or a missed shot.
Trade regrade: D+