Atlanta Hawks fans received a reality check after their first opportunity to hear from general manager Onsi Saleh, who made it clear where he stands on several items, including taking the best player available in the 2025 NBA Draft and being “locked in” with Trae Young.
Saleh also said that he has the approval of ownership to go into the luxury tax if need be.
However, “Locked On Hawks” host Brad Rowland poured cold water on any overoptimism, pointing to the team’s history.
“We have a lot of optionality this summer. Between the moves we made at the deadline, a little bit more optionality, flexibility with the trade exceptions that we got. Long way to the tax. Different things that we could do, but also have authority to go into the tax if we need to,” Salex told reporters on June 23. “So, just looking forward to locking in, and then next season, I think, it’s going to be a fun one.”
Notably, the Hawks have been deemed a team to monitor heading into the offseason.
They have the largest trade exception in the NBA at $25.3 million, another worth around $13 million, and two first-round picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. Still, Rowland remains skeptical.
“I would file this under ‘things that a GM kinda has to say,’” Rowland said in response to a fan’s question about Saleh’s earlier comments. “FWIW Landry said the same thing on multiple occasions.”
“Landry” is former Hawks GM Landry Fields, under whom Saleh was hired to be AGM in 2024.
The Hawks fired Fields this offseason, just over three years after he assumed control following the surprise exit of former team president Travis Schlenk, now of the Washington Wizards.
Not only did Fields express similar sentiments about the luxury tax as Saleh, but Hawks principal governor, Tony Ressler, said in 2022 that the “tax does not scare me”. Their next time will be just the third time in franchise history, and the first since 2011, per Spotrac.
“Our job is to go into the tax when it is good business,” Ressler said, per NBA.com’s Kevin Chouinard.
Ressler also lamented the team’s decision to run back their roster from that season.
“Yes, I think we should have tried to get better rather than bring back what we had,” Ressler said, per The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner. “That won't happen again. It was a mistake, in my opinion at least.”
The Hawks went out and traded for Dejounte Murray that offseason, a move they would essentially undo two years later.
Even with all it took to bring in Murray and what they did after, the Hawks remain under the tax.