John Collins and Trae Young are doing some incredible and important work in the Drew League. Other members of the Atlanta Hawks are playing well in the Atlanta Entertainment Basketball League (AEBL). While De’Andre Hunter is putting players on posters, there are other things going on in the AEBL which may be of note.
Despite a troubling offseason, Montrezl Harrell is playing in the AEBL, showing off his game in the pro-am. Harrell is an unrestricted free agent and is a possibility to slide into the final roster spot. He would have to take a major pay cut as the Hawks are already over the luxury tax.
The Hawks have a good big man rotation going at the moment and while Harrell may improve it in some ways, it is unlikely that the Hawks will sign him. It is the other player who has taken the court with Hunter and Onyeka Okongwu in the AEBL which is of great interest.
The Atlanta Hawks could still sign Lou Williams to complete their roster.
While the Hawks still have three roster spots available, only one of these is a full roster spot. The Hawks have shown that they are not afraid to make the hard call to keep these spots open for the right player after they waived Sharife Cooper, having previously offered him a two-way qualifying offer.
The question remains with the final roster spot, is the career of Lou Williams over? He opened the door slightly to coming back to the Hawks when he suggested that he might not retire at the end of the season. It would be tremendous to see the veteran back with the best Hawks team in memory next season.
The fact he is playing with Okongwu might shed some light on the matter. He has been Okongwu’s veteran since arriving from the LA Clippers via trade and the connection got stronger last season. So this leads to the question, is he playing with Okongwu to help him get ready for the season or is he showing the Hawks that he can still help the team?