It's been a roller coaster of a season for the Atlanta Hawks, and the Kristaps Porzingis trade saga is no exception. Even with all of the ups and downs, however, it's clear that the Hawks are winners of their first Porzingis trade -- in large part because Terance Mann and rookie Drake Powell have struggled mightily this season.
When the Hawks first traded for Porzingis last summer, they had in mind winning at a high level by pairing Trae Young with a pick-and-pop big man who would command the paint on defense. It wasn't too concerning that he couldn't play 32 minutes per game, because the Hawks also had a capable second center in Onyeka Okongwu.
Porzingis was part of an up-and-down season
Things did not go according to plan this season. Young was first injured, then shipped off in a sell-low situation to the Washington Wizards. And Porzingis struggled with illness for months, sometimes making it into the lineup, often forced to miss action for a sickness that was kept hidden in the shadows.
The result was a bumpy season for Atlanta. The Hawks had a hot stretch early in the year, followed by a truly mediocre middle of the season that saw them languishing at the bottom of the Play-In picture around the trade deadline.
Things have turned up from there, in part because of new additions such as CJ McCollum and Jonathan Kuminga, but in larger part because Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker have leveled up into stars. The Hawks are humming, as successful as any team over the past two months.
Atlanta sent Porzingis out
They have done so without Porzingis, however, who was traded at the deadline to the Golden State Warriors. All told, he played just 17 games for the Hawks. They were good games, where he averaged 17.1 points and shot 36 percent from deep on 5 attempts per game, but he wasn't the game-changing force consistently over the course of the season that they expected.
Atlanta got back Buddy Hield, a veteran movement shooter, and Kuminga, a young forward who never found his place in Golden State but who has flashed all manner of upside and explosive scoring ability since joining the Hawks. Onsi Saleh recouped value by flipping Porzingis.
In fact, he may have increased the value of Porzingis even as he struggled with injury and illness. That's because the original cost that they paid to land Porzingis looks like pennies now.
The Hawks paid nothing for Porzingis
The Hawks originally traded two primary assets for Kristaps Porzingis: a player and a pick. The player was Terance Mann, a hard-nosed defense wing whose offensive game was known to wax and wane. The pick landed at 22 in last year's NBA Draft.
Mann was a mistake from the prior year's trade deadline, a player whose contract outstrips his production. For the Hawks to include him in the trade was a gift to their future books. Out of his element on a losing team rather than a winning one, Mann has been hugely ineffective this season. His impact stats are down across the board, his turnovers are up, and his shooting is at its worst efficiency since his rookie season. With two more years on his contract, he is currently underwater at $15.5 and $16 million each of the next two years.
Nailing the first-round pick could have helped make this a reasonable deal for the Brooklyn Nets and bring some regret to the Hawks, but that's not what happened. The Nets used this one of their five first-round picks on North Carolina wing Drake Powell, one of the more raw prospects in the draft. He has incredible athleticism and not a whole lot else to his game.
Despite playing in 61 games and having plenty of opportunity to spread his wings, Powell has looked every bit the part of that raw prospect. He can't shoot, can't score, doesn't pass and isn't an impact defender. Some of those things could come with time -- or they could disappear into the wind as he phases out of the league in a few years.
Atlanta didn't get what it hoped for from Porzingis, but the disappointing seasons of what they gave up and the way they were able to flip Porzingis for Kuminga has set them up to recover nicely from the deal -- and in fact, means they should be considered the winners of the entire trade saga.