5 Disastrous mistakes the Hawks must avoid making this summer
By Tyler Hurst
2. Not Trading John Collins
Starting power forward John Collins is coming off the worst year of his career. The 25-year-old had career lows in both field goal percentage (50.8 percent) and three-point percentage (29.2 percent).
On top of his offensive struggles, Collins also had a career-low in rebounding. Not great for a guy who signed a five-year, $125 million contract in August 2021.
The Hawks attempted to deal him at this past year’s trade deadline, but his regression gave many teams cold feet. Add to that the Hawks’ unwillingness to offload his contract, and nobody was going to make that deal.
While Collins seems to be a well-liked player (he is a team captain), dealing him has to be seen as a priority for the Atlanta front office. Collins is still a good enough player to contribute heavily for most teams in the league and will likely come out of his shooting slump in the seasons to come.
If it takes buying some, if not all, of his contract, so be it. Collins is simply too expensive to build around for this next iteration of Hawks basketball. It is imperative that the Hawks get some solid pieces in return for a still-young, solid contributor.