At this point, it’s almost impossible to not pick up on the noise circulating about Atlanta’s involvement in the NBA trade market. In the lead up to free agency, the Hawks seemed to make almost every starter from last year’s team available for the right price. And shortly before free agency even tipped off, the Hawks went forward in moving John Collins to the Utah Jazz essentially for spare parts.
Clearly everyone was on notice by the time free agency even began in earnest. With financial flexibility motivations at play, the Hawks had one more contract looming on the horizon slated to tie up even more of their wage bill than Collins’ deal for years to come.