Predicting where the Hawks will finish in the Eastern Conference in 2024-25

Five players remain on the roster from the Atlanta Hawks’ surprise run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2020-21.

The Hawks finished fifth in the Eastern Conference standings that season, a finish sparked by a hellish finish after a head coaching change from Lloyd Pierce to Nate McMillan. They have finished ninth, eighth, and 10th in the three seasons that have followed.

Where they finish in 2024-25 will depend heavily on how well their changes take.

“The Atlanta Hawks could once again find themselves in NBA purgatory following the conclusion of the 2024-25 season,” Bleacher Report’s Joseph Zucker wrote on August 15. “The Hawks are resigned to playing the role of spoiler this year and not much else.

“Improving on 36 wins will be difficult for Atlanta because it took a step backward. Somewhere a little lower in the mid-30s is still a reasonable target.”

Zucker predicts the Hawks to finish with a 35-47 record in 2024-25.

He cites the Toronto Raptors as the Hawks’ greatest threat for a Play-In Tournament spot. But drops from teams ahead of them could balance that out if not see the Hawks make a surprising rise in the standings.

Namely, the Chicago Bulls actively got worse, trading Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan over the offseason. 

Chicago was ninth in the East standings in 2023-24.

The Hawks had 11 more wins than the Raptors in the regular season and just three wins short of the Bulls’ mark despite Trae Young appearing in a career-low 54 games. If their roster retool works as planned, it stands to reason they could leapfrog the Bulls in the standings.

Young helped power the Hawks to three straight seasons of 40-plus wins and playoff appearances coming into 2023-24.

Prediction: A 40-win season and ninth-place finish is not far-fetched and may even be likely.

The top of the East is set even if the order of the teams occupying it changes. The Philadelphia 76ers should rise after signing Paul George in free agency, so the fifth [Orlando Magic] through 10th spots are likely to be just as volatile in 2024-25.

That could make it difficult for the Hawks to climb the standings despite potentially posting a better record.

The Miami Heat earned the No. 8 seed with 46 wins, potentially setting a high bar for the Hawks.

Hawks go for fit over function with retooled roster

The Hawks lost some individual offensive punch trading Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans. But the numbers with him and Trae Young on the floor together suggested specific lineup combinations were required to make it work.

The Hawks’ offense is less dynamic without Murray.

“Beyond the absence of true star power beyond Young, the roster construction for Atlanta is a bit odd,” Zucker wrote.

“Bufkin is poised to be Young's backup after making just 17 appearances as a rookie. Daniels is a 31.2 percent three-point shooter through two years, so he doesn't help address what was an issue at times for the team. Then you get to the frontcourt, where Clint Capela, Onyeka Okongwu and Larry Nance Jr. are all centers who don't complement one another that well.”

Zucker notes that Capela, Nance, and Bogdan Bogdanovic could all be trade candidates.

However, the fit around Young and the lineup flexibility the current roster affords head coach Quin Snyder could help the group be better than the sum of their parts.