Should the Atlanta Hawks trade for Gordon Hayward?

The Atlanta Hawks need to have a shake up of their roster in order to add a second star. This was highlighted in the series against the Miami Heat when the Hawks ster Trae Young was shut down, causing the Hawks to struggle, losing in five games.

Aisde from De’Andre Hunter who B/R believed was one of the best players in the playoffs, the rest of the Hawks were either down or injured. Without Young being brilliant, the Hawks are only ever going to be a low playoff-type team. Yes, they had that run into the Conference Finals last season but that was taking on the inexperienced New York Knicks and the injured Philadelphia 76ers.

According to various sources the Charlotte Hornets are feeling a litlle salary cap pressure thanks to needing to extend quality players. They are also not getting the return out of Gordon Hayward that they were expecting and this is impacting their ability to compete at the level that they want to.

So, should the Atlanta Hawks look at trading for Gordon Hayward?

While Hayward coul possibly qualify as a second star, does his game move the needle enough to consider him as the star that the Hawks need? The first thing that need to be considered is his history with injury, which is quite extensive.

After being a bit of an iron man during his time with the Utah Jazz, Hayward broke his leg in the first five minutes of his time as a member of the Boston Celtics. After this being his only five minutes for the whole season, he came back and was mainly a bench player for the Celtics, playing 72 games the next season. Then he started all 52 games of his final season in Boston.

Then, after committing to a $120.0 million sign and trade with the Charlotte Hornets, Hayward played 44 games in his first season and then 49 games in his second season. For about $30.0 million a season, this is just not a high enough number of games to risk on that value contract.

Then there is what it would take for the Hawks to secure the services of Hayward. You need to give something to get something but the Hawks would need to give up at least John Collins and Jalen Johnson or Bogdan Bogdanovic, Hunter and Johnson.

If Hayward was able to stay on the court for a full season then there is a potential that you might pull the trigger on a trade. However, given the uncertainty of Hayward’s body, trading for him is just too risky.