The Atlanta Hawks have done very well for themselves by most accounts this offseason, and the latest intel around their front office, which is officially being helmed by general manager Onsi Saleh.
The Toronto Raptors and former team president Masai Ujiri agreed to part ways.
Ujiri was one of the most prominent figures linked to the Hawks amid their search for a president of basketball operations. That ship, both for Ujiri and the POBO, has apparently sailed, though.
“The Hawks had Ujiri on their initial wish list when searching for their own new president of basketball operations,” The Stein Line’s Marc Stein wrote on June 27. “Atlanta ultimately elected not to structure its front office that way, adding two executives (Bryson Graham and Peter Dinwiddie) in support of newly promoted Hawks GM Onsi Saleh.”
Stein’s colleague, Jake Fischer, doubled down on the sentiments about the Hawks’ offseason.
The Hawks were able to get out from under Terance Mann’s three-year, $47 million contract, flipped Georges Niang’s expiring deal, acquired Kristaps Porzingis, and landed a highly valued future first-round pick while also landing a high-upside local product in Asa Newell in the draft.
“Atlanta’s new front office — led by the trio of Onsi Saleh, Peter Dinwiddie and Bryson Graham — has generated early rave reviews following a strong draft week,” Fischer wrote on June 28.
What’s more, the “Hawks are not done,” according to Fischer.
The Hawks still have their $25.3 million traded player exception from sending Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2024. That expires on July 7, but Fischer maintains that the expectation is for the Hawks to utilize the asset, the largest of its kind, before then.
“The Hawks can choose one of two courses now,” Fischer wrote in his batch of intel. “They can target a free agent they like via sign-and-trade or partner with teams looking to offload salary to acquire additional future draft capital in exchange for absorbing another team's problem contract.”
Saleh has been upfront about the Hawks’ flexibility this offseason.
“We’re flexible. We’re optional, and the optionality is what we’re – I keep saying we have different things,” Saleh told reporters after the conclusion of the first round of the draft on June 25.
That was in direct response to a question about trading back into the second round of the draft, which Saleh said he was open to, but the Hawks did not do.
That same logic almost certainly applies to the TPE, especially with all of the smoke around it.
The Hawks also have a $13 million TPE from trading Bogdan Bogdanovic to the Los Angeles Clippers, current access to the $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception, and, according to Saleh, the authority to go into the luxury tax if need be.
That last part is likely a long shot, given it would be just the third time in franchise history, but it still underscores just how aggressive the Hawks can still be this offseason.