Draft Atlanta Hawks Pick-Swap Watch Thread

Will the 2026 Hawks Swap Convey?

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bozhemoi said:
He didn't switch schools. He flat out quit on Coach K and Duke. Walked out on them mid-season and didn't go anywhere else.
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Sound like might have done something similar his senior yr of HS, so obviously a big red flag.
But, it was a business decision. He got hurt, missed a month, came back and was good but the team wasn't. He played starter minutes, then got moved to bench and played 15 and 8 minutes in his last 2 games.
The team was 8-8 at the time and not going anywhere. Foot injury, the kind of thing that's very easy to reinjure playing basketball.
I guarantee he went to Duke for NBA prep. He wasn't helping his draft stock, had injury risk/likely not 100%, and likely hurts his stock more becoming off the bench and playing reduced minutes on a mediocre college team.
Coach K said he supported the decision.
Flat out quit may be correct, but leaves not a lot of context. Also ignores Coach K's comment, but that might just be K being a good dude. Obvi he and his team thought it was the right move at the time and hindsight seems to back that up. This was also pre-NIL money, he was a college freshman not making money that decided getting a head start on his career was more important than potentially harming his career opportunities.

www.espn.com

Johnson to leave Duke early, prep for NBA draft

Saying in a news release on Monday that the decision was "not easy," freshman Jalen Johnson opted out of the rest of the Blue Devils' season to prepare for the NBA draft.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

I for one am very happy we drafted Primo. No character issues and it lead to Wemby, and Castle, and Harper.
 
Didnt watch this game, but Tre effect?
Is it a coincidence Melo has his best shooting game of the yr + 13 assists with the worst defender in the league playing 20 minutes?
Lets go Tre!
 
Trae only played 20 minutes and the Hawks were a -3 in his minutes. he had 8 points and 10 assists. offense wasnt an issue for the hawks, the hornets were just erupting from deep, and it wasnt just lamelo
 
Yeah its almost never Trae's offense that's the problem, he consistently ranks as one of the 5 worst defenders in the NBA, he's third worst this season, looks like Keyonte George may well take his crown as the worst.
I'm happy he's back, I'd rather Fox/Castle/Harper/Vassell and co get minutes against him, even if he puts up big O #s.
If only the Bulls and Bucks could get their shit together.
 
It's a total miracle that Jalen Johnson turned out to be an NBA player at all, much less this good. Quitter at every stage. The Spurs definitely were not drafting him after the whole Kwi quitting saga.
 
A stat like that just doesn't mean anything without digging deeper when you have six games with Young compared to 22 games without him. That's a difference of roughly 250% in games played.
 
I wonder which power forward we can get at the 15 to 20 range
 
Tonight was one of the most important games of the season for pick purposes. The team came out to play! Full throttle from beginning to end.

Wild that these Hawks have been winning so many games, yet we manhandled them with Wemby on a minutes restriction. There's levels to this shit.....
 
I remember those Hawks "Top 4 in East", "could pull off a Pacers-like run" takes in the offseason by some respectable experts like Zach Lowe.. After the Cavs, they have certainly been the second most disappointing team in the East. Looking primed for another play-in battle..

Really hope they don't make Giannis or AD trade, Spurs might be getting a nice pick swap after all (27 for 14 currently on tankathon). Even something like 24 for 16 is nothing to sneeze at.

We have held our end of bargain having swept Atlanta in two consecutive seasons and we are off to great start in the swap year, i just need the Hawks to stop lucking out in clutch games against superior East teams like @Exstatic often says :st-lol:
 
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Sugus said:
Tonight was one of the most important games of the season for pick purposes. The team came out to play! Full throttle from beginning to end.

Wild that these Hawks have been winning so many games, yet we manhandled them with Wemby on a minutes restriction. There's levels to this shit.....
Click to expand...
They were missing two of their three most important players in Krisztaps and Trae Young, but a good team should be able to overcome some injuries. They didn't look very dangerous last night. As someone mentioned, they've been winning games they shouldn't, losing games they shouldn't. They get two Bulls games next, who aren't playing great, and then have a hard schedule deep into January. OKC, Knicks, Denver, Minnesota, Lakers, Suns, Raptors, etc. After the Bulls, I don't see many games I'd pick them to win outright. They could go on a skid.
 
Probably the stretch that will decide the Hawks season leading to trade deadline. I only see 2-3 gimme games here. It could get rough and they decide to swing a trade for Giannis or AD; i sure hope not for the second part.

Screenshot_20-12-2025_10353_www.espn.com.webp
 
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bozhemoi said:
They were missing two of their three most important players in Krisztaps and Trae Young, but a good team should be able to overcome some injuries. They didn't look very dangerous last night. As someone mentioned, they've been winning games they shouldn't, losing games they shouldn't. They get two Bulls games next, who aren't playing great, and then have a hard schedule deep into January. OKC, Knicks, Denver, Minnesota, Lakers, Suns, Raptors, etc. After the Bulls, I don't see many games I'd pick them to win outright. They could go on a skid.
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Honestly the Hawks are one of those teams where the usual "they're missing their top players" doesn't apply so well - they've been playing better without Trae than with him, and like FVV for the Rockets, Porzingis is seemingly out for the season / long term with a very complicated condition to play through. So it's not like they'll be getting reinforcements next week or month, so to speak...

It really works great for us that they look so defeated and "untalented" at this point, as it (IMO) decreases the chance that they feel confident in making a big trade for Giannis or similar. If they truly had started the season like they were expected to, they might delude themselves into thinking "we're just one piece away from being a contender in the East..." and mortgage more of their future for the win-now move (terrible for the Spurs).

But as of now, I can't see them being invested enough in this core to consider paying the win-now price for a Giannis type player. They'll want to hold on to whatever picks they still have, and maybe sell high on Jalen Johnson or NAW if they continue to flounder.

Or well, that's what a competent team would do at least, but Atlanta's always played random :st-lol:
 
Sugus said:
Honestly the Hawks are one of those teams where the usual "they're missing their top players" doesn't apply so well - they've been playing better without Trae than with him, and like FVV for the Rockets, Porzingis is seemingly out for the season / long term with a very complicated condition to play through. So it's not like they'll be getting reinforcements next week or month, so to speak...

It really works great for us that they look so defeated and "untalented" at this point, as it (IMO) decreases the chance that they feel confident in making a big trade for Giannis or similar. If they truly had started the season like they were expected to, they might delude themselves into thinking "we're just one piece away from being a contender in the East..." and mortgage more of their future for the win-now move (terrible for the Spurs).

But as of now, I can't see them being invested enough in this core to consider paying the win-now price for a Giannis type player. They'll want to hold on to whatever picks they still have, and maybe sell high on Jalen Johnson or NAW if they continue to flounder.

Or well, that's what a competent team would do at least, but Atlanta's always played random :st-lol:
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I agree that missing Trae is sort of a blessing. They definitely looked toothless last night. Maybe tired, I guess.

Generally their length and defense is pretty solid, but was pretty ineffective last night. I haven't watched enough to know, but I assume the blitzing guard attack by the Spurs was hard to handle, and then Wemby came on off the bench...

One problem with going without your stars is that other players can keep it up only so long, and maybe (hopefully) it's starting to wear on them. As you say, though, Trae creates problems for them with his defense.

I figure they'll hang on. Bad for them that Porzingis's health looks super problematic. Daniels has regressed some. Fortunately Johnson has been astoundingly good. They have a juicy NOP pick coming, but maybe the Pelicans continue to turn it around...
 
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