Now that the thick of the NBA offseason has passed, it's become clear that the Atlanta Hawks refuse to be stagnant. Since late June, Atlanta has been very busy on the trade front, and they've been spreading the wealth strategically in the process.
The first domino to fall came just before the start of July, when Atlanta acquired Devin Carter and Aaron Wiggins, for basically pennies on the dollar. Soon after, Kingston Flemings, Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar signed their rookie deals, forcing Atlanta to get creative with their cap strategy.
On July 19th, shockwaves were sent throughout the league when the Hawks acquired guard Lu Dort and Ryan Nembhard in a three-team trade that sent Zaccharie Risacher to the Dallas Mavericks. In addition to shipping off Risacher, the Hawks also declined Jonathan Kuminga's team option, making him an unrestricted free agent.
In lieu of all of this dispersed wealth - in the aftermath of the new CJ McCollum and Jock Landale deals - the Atlanta Hawks now quietly have one of the most well-rounded cap sheets in the entire NBA, with no player on the roster making more than 20% of the total salary cap.
Hawks have more versatility compared to their peers in the East
While Atlanta now has the luxury of maneuverability in regards to their roster construction moving forward, many of their Eastern Conference counterparts are bound by the hefty contracts that they've given to their star players, deals that eat away a massive amount of the team's total salary cap.
When looking back at some of the most recent NBA champions, it's clear that the formula for winning typically entails at least some form of continuity and well-roundedness, traits that aren't consistent with teams that are paying one person a large percentage of their total cap space.
The New York Knicks, for example, just won their first championship in 53 years largely in-part due to Jalen Brunson taking a $113 million pay cut to enable the front office to acquire pieces that complimented Mike Brown's system.
Even the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were paying a hefty price for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander when they won the 2025 NBA Championship, still kept continuity by building their roster almost solely through the NBA Draft.
Atlanta now appears to be following the same model, prioritizing a team-first mentality over superstar reliability. The Hawks still stack up as one of the more competitive rosters in the East even without a consensus superstar, with flexibility for someone to soon emerge as that consensus superstar.
Whether Jalen Johnson takes another leap, or Kingston Flemings hits the ground running, or even another player entirely, there will be opportunities for everyone to eat in Atlanta this upcoming season, and it will be exciting to see who's able to capitalize.
At the very least, Atlanta has positioned themselves in a way that few other teams can match. Recent history has shown what strategies have paid off in terms of winning, so this season will be very telling in seeing if Atlanta truly got ahead of the curve for what could soon be the consensus way of constructing an NBA roster.
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