Embedded Files
The Atlanta Hawks are looking to continue their late success from the 2025-26 season and build this team from the ground up. We are here to look ahead to what is hoping to be an exciting upcoming season.
Get Caught Up to Today
The Atlanta Hawks made a plethora of moves this offseason between both the NBA Draft and trades. The biggest acquisition was acquiring Lu Dort in a 3-team trade between the Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, and Dallas Mavericks. The Hawks acquired forward/guard Luguentz Dort from Oklahoma City and guard Ryan Nembhard (who was later waived by Atlanta) from Dallas in a three-team trade that sent forward and 1st overall pick in 2024 Zaccharie Risacher to Dallas. Atlanta also acquired guard Aaron Wiggins from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for draft capitol a little over a week before the Lu Dort trade.
Image credit: Alonzo-Adams Imagn-Images
Atlanta also brought in three rookies in this year’s draft class. Atlanta drafted Houston guard Kingston Flemings with the 8th pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, St. Johns forward Zuby Ejiofor with the 23rd pick, and traded up from 57th to 52nd overall to grab North Carolina center Henri Veesaar. Unfortunately, Veesaar is out for the season with a torn right ACL that was suffered in an offseason workout. This leaves the Hawks’ frontcourt depth thin as Mo Gueye suffered a fractured foot back in July and underwent surgery. He is expected to miss the start of the season.
Atlanta is also without forward Jonathan Kuminga this season as they declined his $24.3M team option and never could agree on a different contract extension. Jonathan Kuminga signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the off-season.
Image Credit: Jason Getz/AJC
Atlanta Keeps Adding Defense
Image credit: Miguel Martinez of the Atlanta Journal Constitution
Atlanta acquired Lu Dort this offseason to pair with the already lethal defensive duo of Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Dort adds more perimeter defense and strength with his 6’4 220-pound frame. Dort was a key piece of the Thunder’s championship season. He put up 8.3 PTS, 1.2 AST, and 3.6 REB with 0.9 STL across 69 games last season. Another thing that Dort adds is durability. In recent history, the Hawks have been plagued by injuries, so adding more durability is key to this roster. To put into perspective of how impressive Dort is on the defensive side of the ball, he averaged 1.7 deflections and 3.7 contested shots last season. Dyson Daniels averaged 4.2 deflections and 5.5 contested shots while Nickeil Alexander-Walker averaged 3.5 deflections and 3.3 contested shots. Dort put up these impressive numbers next to Cason Wallace in Oklahoma City; Atlanta can’t wait to add him to the scrappy group here.
Keys to the Season
Atlanta looks to add another playoff berth this season and continue escaping the Play-In Tournament. They escaped the Play-In last year for the first time since the 2020-21 season. Jalen Johnson also looks to continue his franchise player resume. He was selected to his first All Star team last season as well as his first All-NBA selection. He was also named to the All-NBA Third Team after averaging career highs in every statistical category. Dyson Daniels had a down offensive year last season and is looking to bounce back after battling through a hand injury all season. Daniels has been working on his jumpshot all offseason, and it looks even better than it did when he shot 34% from deep in the 2024-25 season. He unfortunately dropped to a whopping 18.8% from deep last season.
Jalen Johnson and rookie teammates Kingston Flemings and Zuby Ejiofor have been training with NBA trainer Chris Johnson all offseason fine tuning their crafts and building chemistry. During preseason, Jalen Johnson displayed the post scoring skills and mid-range shooting he’s been working on this offseason. Flemings showed his determination to get to his spots and create good shots for himself. Flemings is a very confident shooter and is not going to be shy shooting the ball.
Our Win Predictions for This Season
Hawks Over/Under on BetMGM is 43.5
Ant- Over
Marco- Over
Blake- Under
Chris- Under
Leon- N/A
Watch the latest podcast episode here:
https://youtube.com/@hkhpod?si=4QF1pC7mEipqBcVw
Follow Us!
Make sure to follow all of us over here at the Hard Knock Hawks Podcast and make sure to check out our latest episode where we dive deeper into some of the things mentioned above. As always, GO HAWKS! CAW CAW!
Ant- @InsaneKaine
Chris- @Chri21opher
Leon- @justinvisible6
Marco- @Hawksfan200
Blake- @Blake_Rodgers4
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse