This may all be smoke from the Hawks General Manager, but Travis Schlenk told the media on Friday that he doesn’t expect the Hawks to come out of the gate with moves when the free agency period begins.
Hawks – again – not figuring to be immediate players in free agency (although they have cap space). Schlenk: "My guess is we are not going to be the first one out of the gate in free agency this year. We’ll kinda wait and see who falls through the cracks."
— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) May 3, 2019
This contradicts reports from during the season that hinted at the Hawks being a surprisingly active team in free agency. However, it makes the most sense for Atlanta to continue to lay low and prevent from doling out any long-term contracts that could hinder their development. The Hawks remain a year or two away from being serious contenders, and while they have cap space this summer, they will have even more in 2020 when both Kent Bazemore and Miles Plumlee are off the books.
The only case for Atlanta making a splash this summer is if they can convince one of the top-tier free agents to venture South, and I’m not talking about players like Tobias Harris and Demarcus Cousins. I’m talking about the Kevin Durant’s and Kawhi Leonard’s. The odds of that happening are slim to none, and Schlenk acknowledged that as well.
A little more insight from Schlenk: "There is a buzz around the league about our young core. Once we show we are in contention, playoff contending, that’s when free agents are going to look at this group and say ‘I want to go there because we can take it to the next level.’”
— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) May 3, 2019
Right now, there is a lot of hype surrounding the Hawks, but Kevin Durant isn’t interested in a little potential. He wants to know for sure he is heading to a championship contending team. Atlanta is not there yet. In a year from now, after two more lottery picks join the team and another year of development from their young core; the Hawks might be able to convince a top free agent to come to Atlanta. But their focus this offseason should be on continuing to rebuild and not deviating too far from the plan that got them this far.
Look for them to operate similarly to their last offseason, where they remained silent and added pieces with potential such as Alex Len.