The Atlanta Hawks have started to almost complete their varsity roster and amongst these players, they have both of their two-way signees. The Hawks have had a twisting road to get Trent Forrest and Jarrett Culver as their two-way players.
They had Chaundee Brown jr signed at the end of last regular season but they have since requested waivers on him in the last week. On top of that, they went through the process of offering Sharife Cooper a two-way qualifying offer, then having him sign it before waiving him.
It was after this that the Hawks announced the signing of Forrest, the former member of the Utah Jazz. Forrest has been in the league for two seasons, backing up Donovan Mitchell, but now he is going to be a crucial member of the College Park Skyhawks.
Atlanta Hawks signee Trent Forrest is no stranger to the two-way contract.
Forrest was actually not drafted back in the 2020 NBA draft, signing on with the Jazz on a two-way deal back in the 2020-21 season. He then signed another at the start of last season before the Jazz converted it to a regular-season deal just prior to the playoffs last season.
Now that Forrest has signed on with the Hawks, he is almost assured of spending the majority of his time in the G League. This is due to the Hawks being well served at the point guard position by Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, and Aaron Holiday.
This means that Forrest is going to be the starting point guard for the College Park Skyhawks this season, running plays that are very similar to the varsity squad. He is going to be running a squad that has NBA talent as its core.
If he shows the ability to lead this team well, then he has the chance to convert a second two-way contract to a regular season deal. He won’t do this with his 3-point shooting, having only hit 18.9 percent from beyond the arc for his career. His pass-first mentality is reflected in his per-36 numbers where takes 7.6 shots per game compared to 5.1 assists per game.
With Cat Barber in Europe for the season and Cooper probably not coming back to the Skyhawks, it is up to Forrest to run this team. If they put the right pieces around him, there is a good chance that Forrest could lead the Skyhawks deep into the G League playoffs.