Hawks are done with Andre Drummond, but they aren’t done trading

The NBA trade season kicked off with the Hawks making a move to acquire Jeff Teague and Treveon Graham from the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for the expiring contract of Allen Crabbe. While the trade is a bit head-scratching for Timberwolves at this moment, it’s a huge plus for Atlanta, who acquired the backup point guard that they have been missing this entire season. Teague will be a critical piece to the Hawks second unit going forward and will also provide a much-needed veteran presence in the locker room, but adding a second ball-handler was only one of Atlanta’s primary needs.

Travis Schlenk also has his eyes on a starting center. Names like Andre Drummond, Steven Adams, and Dewayne Dedmon have all be thrown around in trade talks with the Hawks. But yesterday, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported that Atlanta has officially ended their trade talks with the Pistons surrounding Drummond. Detroit was looking for something more than just expiring contracts and a lottery-protected first-round pick, and Schlenk was not willing to oblige, considering Drummond will be a free agent at the end of the year. However, that doesn’t mean the Hawks won’t continue to be active until the trade deadline.

Haynes also included two other interesting tidbits in his article. One is in regards to Steven Adams, who is under contract through 2021. Haynes said, “Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams is also on the Hawks’ radar, and talks could potentially pick up steam as the deadline looms, sources said.”

Haynes also included that if the Hawks can’t acquire a center by the trade deadline, Drummond will be a top target of theirs in free agency. However, given the report from earlier in the week that suggested the Hawks were not interested in trading for Drummond because he is expected to demand 20+ million in free agency this summer, I don’t imagine Atlanta being that interested unless his price tag comes way down.

Another Yahoo reporter, Keith Smith, also chimed in yesterday on the Hawks situation leading into the deadline, stating Atlanta will trade anyone on their roster – outside of their young core – and is also willing to take on bad contracts for future assets.

Atlanta is open to trading anyone on their roster aside from their young core. ATL is also willing to take on “bad money” per @KeithSmithNBA.

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) January 16, 2020

This sounds much more like what a tanking team should be doing. However, it’s also evident Schlenk wants his team to be more competitive this season. We will see how it all shakes out, but I’m expecting at least one more trade from the Hawks before the February 6th trade deadline.