As NBA Trade Rumors swirl, the Atlanta Hawks might be open to trading John Collins.
During this past offseason, the Atlanta Hawks made one thing clear – they’re willing to go all-in on surrounding Trae Young with the talent to win now. They proved that by signing Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and before by acquiring Clint Capela from the Houston Rockets at the 2020 NBA Trade Deadline.
Even before spending all they did during the offseason, there was no way the Hawks were going to be able to pay all their young players while also adding the players they added during the offseason. One of their young players that could be an odd man out could be John Collins.
Collins has been Atlanta’s second-leading scorer this season, but is in the final year of his contract and will be a restricted free agent this offseason. He’s likely going to demand a max contract on the open market and it’s not a foregone conclusion that the Hawks would want to pay him that – they failed to agree to a contract extension before the season.
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And according to a recent report from The Athletic (subscription required), while it would be quite surprising for the team to move John Collins, they are open to listening to offers for their big man.
In his fourth season in the league, Collins is averaging 19 points and eight rebounds per game on 56 percent shooting from the field and 41 percent shooting from 3-point range. Collins is a supremely athletic power forward that still has a bright future ahead of him.
At least up until this past offseason though, the Hawks didn’t feel that Collins was worth a max extension on their part. While that could be due to a myriad of reasons, if Atlanta is not open to changing that stance it would be wise of them to listen to offers and potentially pull the trigger on one if it catches their attention.
Collins is going to get a max offer by some team during the offseason; he’s worth it, whether the Hawks agree with it or not. Question is, will Atlanta be one of the teams that make that determination?
If not, would it be the worst move in the world for the Hawks to try and get some tangible assets for John Collins at the NBA Trade Deadline?