The calendar has turned to September. You know what that means, right?! Our offseason outlook series is back for the third-straight year!
Hot Hot Hoops senior writer Matt Hanifan will provide his take on the offseasons of all 30 teams for the next 30 days! We will be going in alphabetical order, beginning with the Eastern Conference. Today, to begin the series, we look at the Atlanta Hawks!
Evaluating the Atlanta Hawks’ 2026 offseason
Additions: Aaron Wiggins, Luguentz Dort, Ryan Nembhard, Devin Carter, Jalen Wilson
Subtractions: Gabe Vincent, Zaccharie Risacher, Jonathan Kuminga, Christian Koloko
Re-signed: Jock Landale, C.J. McCollum
Draft: Kingston Flemings (No. 4 overall), Zuby Ejiofor (No. 23), Henri Veesaar (No. 52)
Hanifan’s outlook: The Hawks had another sneaky good offseason, in my opinion.
Last offseason, I said their 2025 summer was an “A,” after acquiring Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kennard and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Onsi Saleh’s second full offseason as Hawks general manager wasn’t as loud, but I pretty much loved every move they made on the margins.
My least favorite part about their summer was punting on Zaccharie Risacher at his lowest value. Although I am not sure if the French forward had a clear runway for a rotation role to rehabilitate some of his value anyway. Risacher was shipped to Dallas as part of a three-team transaction that landed Dort, one of the best wing defenders in the NBA, and Nembhard, a hyper-quick bench (point) guard.
The Hawks offloaded three second-round picks in that deal, as well as two more seconds for Aaron Wiggins. That’s good business. They can still trade up to five more future second-round picks, as well as up to four more firsts, if they want to swing big. They are also still $11.3 million below the first apron (hard-capped) with a handful of fairly small trade exceptions available.
Not to mention, they snagged two prospects in the draft I loved: Flemings, one of the best prospects in the draft, and Ejiofor, who I had as a top-25 prospect in the 2026 class. I love what Saleh’s building; it’s not a perfect roster, but as long Johnson continues to improve, the arrow is pointing up in Atlanta.
Grade: A-
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The athletic and some other spots have ATL higher than the Heat this year, which I don’t get at all. Their best player is one of the worst defenders in the league among all-NBA guys, that limits a teams ceiling. They hit an easy stretch of schedule after the trade deadline last year but then just seemed happy to be there in the first round. There are some good players here but this is not a top team in the east or anywhere close IMO. The front office reminds me of Detroit, cost conscious, big on optionality and winning marginal moves but hasn’t built a team that’s contending yet.
cj their best player lol lots b-c players on atl no a players we have 2nd best player and bams better than any guy they got.atl ahead of us lol
Johnson was 3rd team All-NBA, IMO Alexander-Walker is their best player. The ATL front office loaded up on expiring contracts to give the option of being a max cap space team next year. But for this year for some reason they are still ranked above Miami at The Athletic, SBNation, maybe more. Although it seems opinion is shifting up lately on Miami.
best player terrible defender thought u were talking about cj.jalan johnson that bad defender