Hawks quietly addressed their biggest concern after the Kristaps Porzingis trade

Does Onsi Saleh ever rest?

The Atlanta Hawks, just the morning after making two trades on deadline-eve, continued their generational headline run. They once again captalized on the rapidly-growing market, identifying an issue post-Porzingis trade and acting quickly.

There wasn't much movement taking place on Thursday morning, that was, until ESPN's Shams Charania reported, "The Los Angeles Lakers are trading Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Luke Kennard, sources tell ESPN."

After the Porzingis-Kuminga swap went through, Atlanta knew they had many more problems to address. One problem, however, was one they just created. Acquiring Buddy Hield meant the writing was on the wall for one of their sharpshooters.

Whether that was Kispert, Kennard or even Hield, remained to be seen in the immediate aftermath of the deal. Thursday morning's unexpected trade sending Luke Kennard to Los Angeles and Gabe Vincent in Atlanta, despite the initial uncertainty, directly answered that major question.

The Hawks had no intention of keeping Kennard and Hield on the roster

It makes sense. Kennard and Hield, at this stage in their careers, are practically the same player. The one thing that separates them, however, is volume. Kennard's improved his outside shot volume as the season's progressed, but it never got as high as the caoching staff may have preferred.

With Buddy Hield, this will never be a problem. For better or for worse, the 33-year-old sharpshooter will always let it fly. Over the course of his ten-year NBA career, he's averaged over seven three-point attempts per night, immediately making him a favorite of Quin Snyder.

It was simply between Kennard and Hield, and Atlanta opted to hang on to the newcomer. Bringing on Gabe Vincent in the deal was less about him and more about circumstance. On top of simply getting rid of a player who no longer fit into the on-court vision, Saleh used this trade as a way to continue stacking assets.

On paper, acquiring a struggling guard and a second-round pick doesn't look like much. What it opened up, however, gives Atlanta much more immediate and long-term value than holding onto Kennard would have.

They added draft capital, which is always a plus, but they also opened up a new $11 million trade exception in the process. Over the next year, Atlanta can hold on to that and use it when they see fit.

The trade deadline is nearing, and the Hawks don't appear to be finished making moves. Onsi Saleh won't hesitate to ship out a player he doesn't view as a long-term piece. It could be a very interesting next few hours...