The Hawks couldn’t have had a more tumultuous start to what was a highly anticipated season. Following an overachieving end to the 2020-21 campaign, losing the Eastern Conference Finals, expectations were sky-high for the Atlanta basketball club. However, the team fell quite short of preseason expectations the following season with a first-round exit at the hands of the Heat. Sweeping changes were expected.
The front office made arguably the biggest trade in franchise history by acquiring Dejounte Murray, giving Trae Young the first All-Star teammate of his career. However, a season with palpable excitement has been anything but so far. Injuries to John Collins, De’Andre Hunter, and Murray haven’t even been the worst of it. Young and head coach Nate McMillan recently had a spat that resulted in the star point guard not showing up to a game entirely. And ownership is fixated on not crossing the luxury tax threshold, which will always handicap the team. Moreover, trade rumors are running rampant.
The latest intel isn’t anything new, but Shams Charania of The Athletic is continuing to mention the Hawks and John Collins in his reports. Most recently, Shams described the Collins’ name as “surely on the market and on the move” along with Jae Crowder.
“Meanwhile, the Hawks have had several teams in the Collins market, such as Utah, Washington, Brooklyn and Dallas, sources said. Atlanta has not shown interest so far in a potential framework that would contain Brooklyn’s Joe Harris, those sources said. Phoenix has a desire for Collins but does not appear inclined to take on the forward, who is in the second season of a five-year, $125 million pact.”
Collins’ contract has held back a deal with the Suns, but as Shams mentioned, there are plenty of other suitors. Washington’s Kyle Kuzma has been included in a handful of reports, but no deal appears on the horizon. The Hawks are seemingly headed to a split with Collins, but we’ve been here before. Even prior to inking the versatile forward to a five-year pact, the Hawks shopped Collins. He’s been mentioned in as many trade rumors as any player in the past few seasons. Honestly, I feel bad for Collins, but those reports don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, which will become especially true as we get closer to the trade deadline.
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Photographer: Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire
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