Did the Atlanta Hawks dodge a bullet with the Cam Reddish trade?

The Atlanta Hawks traded Cam Reddish and Solomon Hill to the New York Knicks, receiving Kevin Knox in return. There were also draft considerations as well, but they were inconsequential to the story that broke regarding the health of Reddish over the last couple of days.

The Knicks announced that Reddish was going to be out for six to eight weeks with a shoulder separation per Woj of ESPN. This timeline means that Reddish will miss the rest of the regular season, and with the Knicks being so far out of playoff contention, he will have the offseason to rehabilitate as well.

This could not have come at a worse time for Reddish as he is eligible to sign his rookie extension this offseason. The problem is that Reddish showed that the grass is not always greener after asking for the trade and then continued to struggle.

The Atlanta Hawks dodged a bullet with the Cam Reddish trade.

Reddish has been such an interesting prospect since he entered the league. The Hawks selected him with the 10th pick of the 2019 NBA draft. He would then go on to start three very different seasons with the Hawks.

Travis Schlenk set a goal for Reddish at the start of the season for him to develop a level of consistency. He also wanted to see Reddish complete a whole season which is something that Reddish is yet to do.

He missed part of his rookie season thanks to Covid-19 which is something out of his control. Reddish then missed a large part of last season with an Achilles issue, and the Hawks proved that they could win without him.

Reddish was also injured with regularity this season prior to the trade. Now that he is out for the rest of the season with another separate injury, the Hawks have absolutely dodged a bullet. The reason for this is perception and contract extensions.

Since Reddish had been in the league, conversations have revolved around his defensive ability. Standing at 6’8″ Reddish has a 7’2″ wingspan which allows for him to get into passing lanes, supposedly helping the defense of the team. Unfortunately, his plus/minus has not been good for the season which means that he is costing the team when he is on the court.

To put it simply, Reddish would try to get the steal, exposing the rest of the defense which NBA teams are able to take advantage of this slip. Offensively Reddish was producing numbers but was also taking ill-advised shots which fed the momentum of the opposition when they did not go down.

The perception part of the issue is that the Hawks fanbase saw the potential of Reddish and would have wanted to try and sign him to a rookie extension. De’Andre Hunter is also eligible for this extension and the Hawks could not pay for both of them.

The impact of all this is that the Hawks were able to offload a player who was hurting the team’s ability to win, getting back some draft capital. They also saved themselves a level of headache and heartache for the offseason of who they were going to give the extension to.

Now they only have to extend Hunter and then try to put some better pieces around the core of the team.