The Hawks have recently locked in two huge pieces for their future over the last year of the franchise, and on vastly team-friendly deals to boot.
Jalen Johnson was signed to a flat-rate 5-year, $150M extension last season, taking effect this year (2025-2026) and expiring after the 2029-2030 campaign. Dyson Daniels was also signed to a 4-year, $100M extension, beginning in 2026-2027 and expiring after the 2029-2030 season. Likewise, a Trae Young extension would be capped at four years, expiring in the 2029-30 season (barring a supermax extension, which seems exceedingly unlikely).
Notice a common denominator in each of these contracts?
The Hawks are clearly implementing a ‘deadline’ season for their young core - a tangible, visible light at the end of the tunnel for their squad to recognize. The Hawks have $55 million tied up between Johnson and Daniels up to that point, and most likely somewhere between $40 and $57.25 million annually for Young. It may not be any time soon, but it's coming.
The fork in the road in Atlanta is painfully clear after the 2030 season.
The Hawks have two clear routes to choose from after Dyson and Jalen's contract extensions expire. If the team is operating how it's anticipated to, the Hawks will continue to operate on their two-timeline scale, utilizing Trae and Kristaps’ veteran experience to slowly ramp up the young talents of Risacher, Daniels, and Johnson.
This will allow the franchise to retool and remain in contention for a title for an extended period of time, at which point Dyson and Jalen would hopefully be amicable to signing less lucrative deals in 2030-2031 to remain on the roster and mentor the team's future young talents. Alternatively, this gives the team a five-year window to assess whether Risacher, Asa Newell, or any other young prospect acquired over this window reveals themselves to be a better fit than their starting players.
The other grim reality that may well play out - scary as it is - the Hawks never put the pieces together, Trae and Kristaps get traded or depart the franchise in free agency sooner than expected, at which point Dyson and Jalen's contracts would allow the Hawks to start with a clean slate after they expire. While this is not ideal, at least the team would have the flexibility to hit reset.
Regardless of outcome, the current Hawks core has a clear timeline for success - the question remains, what will they do with it?