What should the Atlanta Hawks do with Garrison Mathews next season?

Garrison Mathews is the next Atlanta Hawks player who will potentially be impacted by the franchise winning the draft lottery. There are differing schools of thought as to who they should take with the No. 1 pick, but it seems to be coming down to a few options, Alexandre Sarr, Donovan Clingan, or Zaccahrie Risacher

If the Hawks decided to go with one of the two big men on this list, then it may seem to be a good move to keep Garrison Mathews. However, if the Hawks decide to go with the wing option of Risacher, then life may get a little more uneasy for Mathews as the Hawks will have a surplus of wing players.

The problem for the Hawks is the amount of money they are paying for wing players at the moment, and this may mean a trade of either Bogdan Bogdanovic or De'Andre Hunter. Both of these players look so much better coming off the bench last season but that means that just these two players on the Hawks bench with use just under $39.0 million of the salary cap.

What does Garrison Mathews bring to the Atlanta Hawks?

What Mathews brings to the Hawks is a player willing to put their body on the line on defense while spacing the floor on offense. Over the past two seasons that Mathews has been a member of the Hawks franchise, he has hit 43.6 percent of his 3-point attempts. That is 95-of-218, a respectable number off a decent sample size.

However, Mathews is a little one-dimensional as a player. While he has taken 218 shots from beyond the arc, he has only taken 39 shots from inside the arc. Fortunately for Mathews, the time that he was on the court towards the end of last season showed that there is still development going on in his game.

He has added an escape dribble to his game meaning that he is going to more difficult to defend. Instead of being able to rush out to the perimiter to pressure the 3-point shot, opposition defenses will have to hang back a little. This will give Mathews an extra portion of time to get a shot off, making him potentially more dangerous from beyond the arc.

Getting this for just $2.2 million for next season may be a bargain, the Hawks need to make a hard call. AJ Griffin has the tools to develop into a generational shooter. Hunter and Bogdanovic are incredible players as long as they stay on the court. On top of that, Jalen Johnson is a player ready to take this team to another level who can also play on the wing.

If the Hawks do guarantee Mathews' deal, then it needs to be if he is being traded, especially if they draft Risacher. He is not going to add enough to the team in the short or long-term to justify a roster spot over a player that can be developed into a more complete NBA player.