Bleacher Report proposes trade between the Hawks, Lakers, and Pacers

John Collins has been involved in multiple trade rumors, so naturally, fans and media have been throwing him in trade hypotheticals:

Here’s the deal Bleacher Report posed involving Collins:

Los Angeles Lakers Receive: Myles Turner and Bogdan Bogdanović

Atlanta Hawks Receive: Bojan Bogdanović, Buddy Hield and Alec Burks

Detroit Pistons Receive: John Collins, Jalen Johnson and Max Christie

Indiana Pacers Receive: Russell Westbrook (to likely be bought out), Frank Kaminsky, a 2027 first-round pick from Los Angeles and a 2029 first-round pick from Los Angeles

Atlanta Surrounds Trae Young with Shooting

Hawks Receive: Bojan Bogdanović, Buddy Hield and Alec Burks

Hawks Lose: John Collins, Bogdan Bogdanović, Jalen Johnson and Frank Kaminsky

The recent revelation that Atlanta is willing to move Collins for less than a first-round pick helps with this scenario. And it’s maybe not all that surprising. After years in the rumor mill, Collins is averaging 13.1 points (his lowest mark since his rookie season) and posting a career-low effective field-goal percentage.

What may be most concerning is that his three-point percentage has taken a nosedive from 37.6 percent over his first five seasons to 22.8 in 2022-23.

Replacing him with the volume and shooting that Bojan Bogdanović is currently providing the Pistons (a career-high 21.2 points and 2.4 threes on 41.5 percent shooting from deep) is kind of a no-brainer, but it doesn’t explain the inclusion of 21-year-old Jalen Johnson, veteran Frank Kaminsky and Atlanta’s own Bogdanović (who, at 30, is older than people realize).

This deal allows Atlanta to overhaul its rotation between the high-usage guards (Trae Young and Dejounte Murray) and a pair of bigs that do most of their damage inside (Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu).

Like Bojan, Buddy Hield and Alec Burks both bring shooting with them to the Hawks, who currently have a bottom-10 offense. Infusing the rotation with three 40-plus-percent three-point shooters and spreading the floor for Young- (or Murray-) led pick-and-rolls with Capela and Okongwu would make Atlanta’s offense far more dynamic.

While there is some intrigue with Johnson, and Bogdan Bogdanović has had some moments with the Hawks, this move would raise Atlanta’s short-term ceiling. Following the win-now acquisition of Murray this past offseason, that should be the Hawks’ main focus.

I understand the merits of this trade, but it’s a tough pill to swallow for the Hawks. They have misused Jalen Johnson, in my opinion, so I understand him being in the package. Losing Bogi really hurts, and of course, Collins is the main feature of this deal.

I like the pieces coming back, but the Hawks lose two of the three best players in the trade and arguably don’t get the third best player back. Hield and Turner are both good players, so they’re interchangeable. I could handle this trade, but I’m not sure it gets the Hawks over the hump. Regardless, get used to these type of hypotheticals all the way up until the trade deadline.

—

Photo: Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire