With the NBA trade deadline fast approaching (this Thursday to be exact) there are a number of teams who could be active at the deadline. The Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors, and Denver Nuggets have shown to be extremely active trying to make deals in the coming days to beat the clock, but one team that is perhaps the most interesting when discussing possible trades is the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks have reportedly shown a willingness to discuss any and all players on their team as they try to decide if this core group can catch lightning in a bottle for this year’s playoff run if Al Horford is worth a long-term deal in the offseason and if Dennis Schroeder is a better fit at point guard than Jeff Teague.
With that said here are five hypothetical trades that the Hawks could make this week that would make sense:
1. Atlanta Hawks trade Al Horford, Kent Bazemore, and Mike Scott to Los Angeles Clippers for Blake Griffin and Branden Dawson
Why: This one is my favorite because I think it makes too much sense to not do. The Hawks clearly have reservations about giving Horford a long-term deal as well as doubts about the team’s long-term prospects regarding their core. Likewise, though Horford seems to have reservations about staying with Atlanta long-term as he was reportedly the one who asked Isaiah Thomas about playing in Boston. In this trade, the Hawks get a star to build around in the future and someone who is known for a highly entertaining game and is highly skilled making him a perfect fit in coach and personnel decision maker Mike Budenholzer’s system. The Clippers get a replacement power forward who although he isn’t as skilled as Griffin, is still a very good player in his own right as well as two very good depth options in Bazemore and Scott who will make the Clippers a much deeper team for their playoff run this year. Dawson is a throw-in to make the money work, and the Clippers may have to throw in a second round pick for value sake, but in this deal, they get much deeper and gain a stretch four off the bench in Scott. A win-win for both teams as Griffin gets his own team and Budenholzer gets a legitimate star,
2. Atlanta Hawks trade Jeff Teague and Tiago Splitter to Houston Rockets for Dwight Howard
Why: In this deal the Hawks trade Teague who the Hawks seem to be very interested in moving and send Splitter, who has been very injury prone recently, to Houston for Howard. Howard is clearly on the block as there is too much smoke for there not to be fire at this point. Howard is reportedly interested in playing for Atlanta now with that being where he is from and if that is true this makes a lot of sense as they can just resign him afterward. The downside is the Hawks give up Teague and Splitter two assets under very reasonable contracts to get a player who they can just sign in the offseason without giving up anything. However if the Hawks were to trade for Howard that would give them one of the premier frontcourts in the NBA with two players who are all-star caliber players. Howard is not the same player he was, but he can have a big impact in the East with a lack of elite big men. The Rockets, on the other hand, get a solid point guard and a frontcourt asset that if they didn’t like they could move in the offseason.
3. Atlanta Hawks trade Jeff Teague to Orlando Magic for Victor Oladipo, right to swap 1st round picks in 2017 NBA draft (if no swap, it becomes a second-round pick in 2017), and a 2018 second-round pick
Why: This trade makes sense as the Magic reportedly have interest in acquiring Teague. In this trade, the Magic trade Oladipo who has not really emerged yet aside from a solid role player and Teague has proven he can score and distribute the ball in an efficient way. Teague would also give the Magic a new dimension to their offense because he is a much better shooter than current point guard Elfrid Payton and he comes with a reasonable contract. This also allows the Magic the opportunity to explore the market for Teague or Payton in the offseason to solve other needs as both are starting caliber point guards. The Hawks, on the other hand, acquire a young role player with a defensive first mindset and the ability to shoot a decent percentage from three-point land, while also getting a couple of second round picks in all likelihood. The picks could be used on foreign players they could stash similar to what Popovich has done in San Antonio or they could be packaged to move up the draft board a few slots for a certain player.
4. Atlanta Hawks trade Kyle Korver to Cleveland Cavaliers, Jeff Teague to Indiana Pacers for Indiana’s 1st round pick (top 7 protected), Indiana’s 2020 second round pick, George Hill, Anderson Varejao, and Cleveland’s 2021 1st round pick (top 5 protected), Cleveland’s 2019
second round pick
Why: This one is clearly the most complex as anything more than two teams just gets complicated and makes matching salaries tough. The Hawks in this trade really set the reset button and if they do this deal you have to wonder why they would keep Horford, but they get out from Korver’s money and send Teague away while getting some future draft picks in return. They also receive Varejao’s deal which is non-guaranteed for part of it giving them a nice trade chip in the offseason if they try to match money. They also receive George Hill who will keep them competitive this year, but also can be moved in the offseason when Hill’s contract becomes expiring and more valuable due to his low salary and rising salary cap. This may seem light especially when taking on salary, but those contracts can be valuable for trade purposes and draft picks are more valuable nowadays.
5. Roll with current core for this year; sign Al Horford to max deal this summer
Why: This is the most obvious option for the team as they could just stay with the current core and hope for them to catch fire. This core still has some very good pieces in Horford and Paul Millsap, but they will need a better player on the wing to replace the departed DeMarre Carroll from last season. The biggest weakness has been in the down year from Korver shooting, Teague has not been as lethal and efficient getting into the paint and scoring, and Bazemore is not on the level of the aforementioned Carroll. This team can be a contender next year if they keep this team and free up some cap space this summer to chase some big free agent wings, but that would be tough to convince a wing to head to Atlanta and Dwight Howard would not fit with Horford and Millsap playing the three where he is not nearly as good. Either way, Atlanta has some options and should not force any deals that leave them struggling to move forward competitively.
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