Today, Shams Charania of The Athletic broke down the trade rumors that are swirling around the NBA. He didn’t have much to say about the Hawks as far as potential acquisitions go, but he did remind us that teams continue to monitor the market for John Collins.
The Pelicans, viewed as a key team in NBA trade market, are receiving calls on Lonzo Ball and JJ Redick from interested teams and have shown openness to discussing both, per sources.
More in latest Inside Pass at @TheAthletic: https://t.co/KpLWLLTMZ3
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 26, 2021
This shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise. Rival teams have been checking in on Collins’ status for over a year now, and that will only increase after the two sides could not come to terms on a contract extension this offseason.
Still, the Hawks don’t really have much pressure to move him before the March 25th trade deadline. Collins will be a restricted free agent, meaning Atlanta can match whatever offer he might accept this offseason. The only two reasons I could see Schlenk pulling the trigger on a Collins trade is if the Hawks are acquiring another star player in return, or they feel there is no way they will end up paying him next offseason.
The latter of which I just don’t believe is true. Collins has continued to be unbelievably efficient in his fourth season, averaging 16.8 points on 53.8% shooting from the field and 40.4% shooting from behind the arc. He’s also continued to make strides on the defensive end of the court. Given how difficult it has been for Atlanta to attract star players in the past, I don’t imagine the Hawks would let him walk for nothing unless someone is willing to offer him a max-contract.
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