NBA Trade Rumors: Hawks starting trade discussions for John Collins
NBA Trade Rumors: Are the Atlanta Hawks ready to trade John Collins now?
During the offseason, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Atlanta Hawks were going to trade John Collins. However, the offseason came and went and Collins was still on the team’s roster to start the season.
According to a recent report, the Hawks are looking to restart trade discussions for Collins. This report is a bit surprising considering the Hawks have gotten off to a solid start to the year, but in the long run, it’s probably in the best interest of both sides to move on.
So far this season, Collins has seen a downtick in production. That isn’t all that surprising considering the addition of Dejounte Murray means a smaller role for Collins. Though, I’m not sure anyone could’ve envisioned Collins averaging just 12 points and eight rebounds at this point in the year.
Just a handful of seasons ago, Collins was averaging 21 points and 10 rebounds for the team. Since then, though, his production has taken a hit overall. You can’t help but wonder if that is more to a dwindling or changing of roles or if it’s entirely on Collins.
Either way, it seems as if the Hawks are at least open to a change.
The potential trade market for John Collins
The potential trade market for Collins will be interesting. Essentially, any team that is interested in Collins has to view him as a max player. He’s being paid as such and it would not be wise for any team that acquires him to not have big plans for him.
And maybe that’s part of the reason why the Hawks elected not to trade him during the offseason – because of the lack of a trade market. Though, it’s clear that Atlanta wants to move on from him.
They probably wanted to see how he’d fit with the new core of Trae Young and Murray. It’s not that Collins is a bad fit, it’s just that Atlanta probably wants to find more minutes for their younger frontcourt players.
But how will opposing teams see this? That’s the big question that will begin to be answered when the Hawks find out what type of market Collins will create.
Either way, this is an interesting twist heading into the NBA Trade Deadline season.
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Will any team fork up the offer that it will take to land Collins? Will there be a bidding war? What is the Hawks’ ultimate plan with this move?