NBA Trade Rumors: Did the Atlanta Hawks miss the chance to cash in on John Collins’ trade value when it was still in a semi-good place?
At last year’s NBA Trade Deadline, there was a belief that the Atlanta Hawks were going to trade John Collins. In the end, they didn’t. Then before last year’s NBA Draft, those same whispers began to circulate. Once again, the NBA Draft came and went, and Collins was still a member of the Hawks.
At the beginning of this season, as the Hawks got off to another uneven start, those trade whispers surrounding Collins arose again. The NBA Trade Deadline passed and Collins was still in Atlanta. Heading into the offseason, you can almost bet those same discussions are going to come again. Especially considering that the belief is the Hawks are going to try to make some big moves this offseason.
And if Atlanta is interested in shaking up the roster, you’d have to assume that Collins could end up being moved. But one potential problem with moving Collins this offseason is the fact that his trade value may be at an all-time low.
Revisiting John Collins’ trade value
Collins is coming off arguably one of the worst seasons of his career. He’s seen a drop in production in each of the last three seasons in Atlanta and is having a nightmarish postseason run in the team’s first-round series against the Boston Celtics.
During the first four games against the Celtics, Collins is just averaging eight points and five rebounds on 32 percent shooting from the field and 21 percent shooting from 3-point range. For a team that may decide to ultimately move Collins, this is not the lasting performance you want to see from him on the big stage.
So what we have in Collins is while he’s still a young player (25 years old), he’s also a player that has looked less and less appealing over the last three years of his career. Add in the fact that he still has three years, $75-plus million on his contract after this season and it makes his theoretical trade value that much more complicated.
If there’s a team out there that believes that they could revive Collins’ career, this offseason may be the time to pounce. Especially if Atlanta is ready to give a bigger role to Onyeka Okongwu heading into next season.
The Hawks have big decisions to make this offseason but Collins remains to be one of the team’s biggest headaches at the moment. And with his tanking trade value, it remains unclear if this saga will even end this offseason.