Atlanta Hawks: John Collins thinks he’s worth the max; do the Hawks?

John Collins believes he’s worth a max extension, but will the Atlanta Hawks agree?

Thanks to his electrifying dunks, John Collins managed to quickly make a name for himself during his rookie season with the Atlanta Hawks. Though, in the past two years, his development on the offensive side of the ball has quickly elevated him to one of the best young bigs in the NBA.

Heading into the 2020 offseason, though, the Hawks will have to at least start thinking about making a decision on the future of Collins. He could test free agency after the 2020-21 season and would be a restricted free agent. He could be extended sooner or Atlanta could theoretically wait to and match any offers he gets in the restricted free agent market next offseason.

Either way, with the way the stars are lining up, the Hawks need to decide whether or not he’s worth a max extension.

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Despite missing 25 games to start the 2019-20 NBA season due to violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program by testing positive for Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide-2 (GHRP-2), Collins would go on to post career highs in nearly every statistical category during his third season.

Collins averaged 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game on 58 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent (3.6 attempts per game) from 3-point range. He also posted a 23.58 Player Efficiency Rating during the 41 games he played. To put that number into perspective, His 23.58 PER is good for 13th in the NBA.

Both the statistics and eye tests indicate that John Collins is a good player. The big question, however, is whether the Hawks believe he’s worth a max extension. Collins believes he is:

"“When we’re talking max numbers and money, I feel like I definitely (am in) the conversation to have earned that money with the Hawks specifically, but obviously I know there’s a business and we don’t always get exactly what we want,” Collins said. “But I want to be a Hawk, I want to stay with the Hawks.”"

Collins has made it clear that he wants to remain in Atlanta. After all, which young player wouldn’t want to. With the way that Trae Young is quickly evolving into a superstar and there are many other intriguing pieces on this roster that could point to the Hawks making a jump into the top 8 of the Eastern Conference as soon as next season.

Interestingly enough, one of those intriguing pieces happens to be Collins’ frontcourt mate Clint Capela, who the team traded for at the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline.

Capela is under contract for the next three seasons, making roughly $20 million per season. Even though Capela and Collins are far from the same player, and could work on the floor together, it leaves the Hawks with some big financial questions.

Do they really want to tie up 30-40 percent of their cap on two frontcourt players? Taking it a step further, do they really want to do that in an NBA that is quickly moving away from the big man?

Keep in mind, over the next few years the team will also have to find money to pay the likes of De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish, Kevin Huerter, and, most importantly, Trae Young – none of those extensions will likely be cheap, either.

Looking around at the landscape of contenders in the NBA, the only current contenders with big-man locked into multiple” big men” (power forwards and centers) are the Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, and Denver Nuggets – you can also make the case that none of the three teams mentioned had a realistic chance to win the 2020-21 championship.

The Raptors are somewhat the exception. However, they kind of had a huge Kawhi Leonard advantage in that respect.

Would Young provide that type of impact? If the Hawks believe he can have that type of impact, perhaps that could help with their reasoning. Though, it’s entirely too early to find that conclusion at the moment.

The Hawks have a big decision to make. It’s looking more and more likely that John Collins is going to demand a max contract on the open market. Will the Hawks agree?