While the Atlanta Hawks managed to salvage a first-round playoff series from the season that was, they had several bright spots. They developed promising young players Jalen Johnson and Sharife Cooper in the G League. They also saw an All-NBA type season from Trae Young. However, one of the best stories to come out of the season was Delon Wright.
The Hawks made the move for Wright prior to the season starting, sending Kris Dunn and Bruno Fernando to the Boston Celtics for Tristan Thompson. They then flipped Thompson to the Sacramento Kings in the same trade, receiving Wright in return.
At the start of the season, Wright was mysteriously not getting much playing time. Head coach Nate McMillan cleared this up by saying that Lou Williams was in the rotation and therefore Wright was not. Well, thanks to his stellar defense, Wright forced his way into the rotations, and then injuries to other players kept him there.
The Atlanta Hawks need role players like Delon Wright
Wright is the very definition of a role player in the NBA. He has talents outside of what the Hawks are using but he is happy to sacrifice his game for the good of the team. Wright has always been able to score but he has put that away somewhat when he plays with Young and focuses on stopping the opposition.
Wright has also taken opportunities to step up when Young is out. He also had several games where he balled out when Young was on the sidelines but when the superstar point guard came back into the lineup, Wright always accepted his role and owned it. This was a lot easier for Wright to do when Cam Reddish was traded and his role became more defined.
During the recent exit interviews, the guard expressed that he would like to return to the Hawks next season. He is out of contract and will certainly garner a lot of interest from around the league given his play for the Hawks in the second half of the season.
As things stand, the Hawks do not have a huge amount of wiggle room on their salary cap sheet and Wright will still be looking to make some decent money while he still can. This may mean that the Hawks need to figure out what they are doing with Danilo Gallinari.
There is also a potential of creating a trade package around Bogdan Bogdanovic or John Collins so that they can get a second star and potentially create more room to sign players like Wright.