5 Pressing questions Atlanta Hawks must answer before 2023-24

2. What to do About the Frontcourt?

The Atlanta Hawks have roughly 66 million committed to their starting frontcourt (De’Andre Hunter-John Collins-Clint Capela) for next season. Collins is heading into year three of his 5-year, $125 million deal (5th year is a player option). Hunter is heading into the first year of his 4 year, $95 million rookie extension. Capela has two years left on his deal. You get the point, the Hawks are currently tied to all three players long-term.

All three players also have questions moving forward. Hunter has yet to take the step forward offensively that the team had hoped. Collins took a step back this season while struggling mightily from deep (3-point  percentage dropped from 36.4% in 2022 to just 29.2% this year). And Capela has been slowed at times over the last two years due to lower body issues.

As we will also see later, all three players also have young players behind them pushing for more minutes (this is especially the case with Capela). There is also the issue that the three players might not fit together well enough anymore if the 3-point shots aren’t falling (especially when it comes to spacing).

I like all three players individually, but I believe that as the Hawks look to re-make their roster, it will likely have to come at the expense of one (or more) of the starting frontcourt players being moved.  Whether it be for a star player or just a player with a different skill set. Sadly, I think it might have come to the point that the Hawks need to trade from the starting frontcourt, the question might now be how many get moved, which ones get moved, and who they are moved for.

Some hypothetical trades for instance could look like adding Lu Dort, Dorian Finney-Smith, or Kyle Kuzma. Dort has his limitations offensively but is an all-defensive team-caliber guy who would fill a lot of needs for the Hawks on that end. Finney-Smith isn’t a name that will blow you away, but he shot 38.9% from deep across 211 games from 2020-2022. Kuzma averaged 21.2 points per game this season, and does several things pretty well (Kuz has a player option decision this offseason, so he might be a Free Agent instead of a trade).

I also want to mention the Hawks have to be careful that they don’t just give away Hunter, Collins, or Capela just for the sake of change (those players are too good for that), but it is likely time for the Hawks to make a change to their starting frontcourt.