Atlanta Hawks general manager Landry Fields’ comments in the press release announcing the trade with the Los Angeles Clippers foreshadowed the situation.
His remarks following the trade deadline all but assured it.
Despite acquiring former Denver Nuggets first-round pick Bones Hyland in a trade with LA – that also yielded Terance Mann – Fields did not mention him in his prepared statement released through the team.
Field spoke before the Hawks’ win over the Milwaukee Bucks and said that the team was “working on something else” with Hyland.
“Atlanta Hawks will be waiving newly acquired Bones Hyland, league sources tell me,” NBA TV’s Chris Haynes reported on X on February 7.
Hyland, 24, was the No. 26 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.
He earned Second Team All-Rookie honors, averaging 10.1 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.7 rebounds while shooting 36% from beyond the arc. This season, he is averaging 7.2 points while seeing nearly half as many minutes with the Clippers as he did with the Nuggets.
However, he is still posting career highs with a 38.8% clip from deep and 52.6% effective field goal mark.
The Athletic’s John Hollinger called the “desperate” Hawks’ decision a “red flag.”
BONES FOR THREE 👌 pic.twitter.com/ebPhWc1v7Q
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) December 9, 2024
“After a team that was desperate for backup PG help the last 2 years didn't play him and then traded him,” The Athletic’s Nate Duncan posted in reaction to Hollinger.
Hollinger offered a potential explanation for the Hawks’ line of thinking.
Defense & miscues plagued Bones Hyland before Hawks trade
“It seems Hyland might be getting a chance to run the show as a backup when the Clippers sent him to Atlanta, but the Hawks GM not mentioning him in the press release announcing the trade is kind of a red flag that he might not be long for this roster,” Hollinger wrote on February 7 before Fields spoke. “Hyland has shot-creation skill that the Hawks roster could use but has never been able to mesh that with acceptable defense or limited mistakes.”
Hyland averages 2.7 assists to 1.3 turnovers per game for his career. He is a scorer off the bench, not a facilitator, and his defensive effort ranges from poor to nonexistent far too often to this point in his career. His dissatisfaction with his role has manifested poorly before too.
For a Hawks team that already struggles without Trae Young on the floor, adding a player who could take away from his teammates’ effectiveness could be a critical miscalculation.
They are already treading in murky waters in the standings too.
Hyland had the worst on-off differential among all Clippers players with at least 100 minus played before his trade, per Cleaning The Glass. He notably had the worst offensive differential and the fourth-worst defensive mark among that same group.
Perhaps the Hawks will solve their backup point guard issues with someone not named Keaton Wallace. Perhaps Hyland will hit his stride.
They are not a solution for each other at this time.