Atlanta Hawks' 2023 first-round pick Kobe Bufkin has had a disappointing start to his career, only suiting up in 27 NBA games in his two-year career after experiencing unfortunate injury luck. Onsi Saleh and the Hawks' front office clearly believe in Bufkin, however. Reports surfaced that Saleh turned down a trade from the Kings that would send Malik Monk to Atlanta for Bufkin and Georges Niang.
This marks Saleh's first whiff as GM of the Hawks. While Bufkin is a promising prospect, he failed to crack the Hawks' rotation in a significant way this year and is a third-year player headed to summer league. Bufkin has failed to prove he is capable of contributing to a winning playoff team next season despite his promise as a prospect.
Even the best teams should have developmental players on their roster, with the hope that their young talent will eventually rise to the team's level. However, Monk would have been the perfect addition to this Hawks team, which lacks a ball handler and scorer off the bench. Declining a trade that replaces Bufkin with Monk is a miscalculation that could come back to haunt Atlanta.
Monk is the final piece the Hawks need to have a true playoff juggernaut
This Hawks team is nearly perfectly constructed, surrounding Trae Young with length and versatility. Their only weakness is a lack of ball handling and self-creation in the second unit. The Hawks can work around this problem to an extent, staggering Young and Jalen Johnson to ensure Atlanta always has an offensive engine on the court.
However, what makes Johnson such an essential piece for the Hawks is his synergy with Young. Ideally, Atlanta would play the pair together for long stretches, relying on a microwave bench scorer to shoulder the offensive burden for brief stretches of the game when both stars are resting.
Malik Monk is the definition of a microwave scorer, possessing a versatile offensive game that has worked well with various iterations of the Kings roster. Additionally, he would be the best ball handler on a Hawks second unit that has no proven offensive initiator. Bufkin will presumably be Young's backup next season, which is a massive downgrade from Monk.
For the Hawks to reach their full potential as Eastern Conference threats next season, Bufkin has to show he is worthy of serious playoff minutes. If he does not prove he is a playoff-caliber player, he may be out of Atlanta by the trade deadline, almost certainly for a lower trade yield than Monk.
If the Hawks had completed this trade, Niang would not have been able to be traded to the Celtics for Kristaps Porzingis. However, given Porzingis's injury history and the concerning lack of playmaking on the Hawks' second unit, the Hawks would be better positioned with Monk. Atlanta could then use the cap room spent on Luke Kennard on a backup center option in the free agent market, such as Luke Kornet.