Buzz around the Atlanta Hawks is picking up with the offseason finally here and the 2025 NBA Draft is just a few short days away. It appears that a significant move to trade up in the cycle is squarely on the table.
Moreover, the Hawks, currently picking 13th and 22nd, may have their sights set on a target, as it certainly seems they have honed in on a specific position group.
Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor offered the most recent update.
“League sources say the Hawks are looking to move way up from this pick and have called teams drafting in the top five,” O’Connor wrote in a mock draft published on June 23. “They are targeting a center.”
O’Connor projected the Hawks to select Cedevita Olimpija center Joan Beringer with their first pick.
Beringer is a 6-foot-10 prospect who does profile as a fit with the Hawks.
“Beringer began playing basketball only three years ago, which makes him a raw project, but also makes his natural talents all the more impressive,” O’Connor wrote in May. “He’s a center but has the quickness of a guard, giving him immense defensive versatility to build on for years to come.”
However, the Hawks’ interest in a trade up also aligns with reports of their interest in Duke’s Khaman Maluach, the top center prospect in the class.
Hawks buzz aligning before 2025 NBA Draft
“The top-rated [center] prospect, Maluach, has visited with the Pelicans, Wizards and Hawks, sources say. The Duke product is also expected to meet with the Jazz before next Wednesday's Round 1,” The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer wrote on June 17. “Does that mean Maluach can go as high as No. 5? The mere question has only added to the skepticism that he will make it to the Raptors at No. 9.”
That also fits earlier rumors about their interest in a trade up.
“Various sources have indicated that they do believe the Hawks will fall right in line with Oklahoma City, Orlando and Brooklyn as teams with multiple picks in the mid-to-late first round exploring various avenues to move up the draft board,” Fischer wrote on June 12.
“Rival teams have projected the Hawks as targeting big men with whatever draft slots they ultimately operate from. After years of dangling Clint Capela on the trade block, Capela is finally expected to depart Atlanta via free agency this season, sources say. So the Hawks appear poised to have an opening for a center.”
The Hawks have Onyeka Okongwu and can have 2023 second-round pick Mouhamed Gueye moonlight at the 5 spot.
All of the pre-offseason murmurs suggest a big man is a likely get this offseason. However, Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh offered comments that also loom large in light of Fischer and O’Connor’s respective reports.
“I think there are ways that you could build a team that you don't need traditional types of things, in the sense of we do have some long, athletic guys out there, which is really interesting for our defense and our play style moving forward,” Saleh told reporters on June 23. “When we get to that point in our season, we’ll address some things there. But I feel really good about a lot of our group moving forward. We are a very young group that is still developing, and I think that’s important to realize here.”
Saleh was speaking particularly about Okongwu, but his comments fit Gueye, too.