The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Despite all their talent, Hawks are misfiring
It’s an NBA mystery: This gifted team seems to be going nowhere fast.
It’s impossible to overstate how underwhelming the Hawks have been. Since trading three first-round picks for Dejounte Murray in a go-for-broke move, they were 77-87 heading into Wednesday night’s game. Since landing coach Quin Snyder and handing him a five-year contract, they’re 46-57.
Over three regular seasons since the run to the 2021 Eastern Conference finals, the Hawks have gone 43-39, 41-41 and now 36-46. (See a trend? So do I.)
They just finished with the NBA’s 21st-best record but, because of the weakness of the NBA East and the existence of a play-in tournament, they awoke Wednesday with a game to play.
Steve Spurrier once dismissed Tennessee by saying, “You can’t spell ‘Citrus Bowl’ without ‘U-T.’ ” There’s no “P” in “Atlanta Hawks,” but something similar applies. Only two teams have landed in the play-in three years running. One is the Pelicans. The other is the Hawks, who won in their first two appearances in these not-quite playoffs.
Surviving the PIT would mean the Hawks face the topseeded Celtics, who won 28 more games than Atlanta but managed to lose twice in four nights at State Farm Arena last month. The Hawks were minus Trae Young in those games. They headed into the play-in with Young but without Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu and Saddiq Bey.
Big-picture-wise, the Hawks might be better served to lose in the PIT and thereby land in the draft lottery. Should the Kings beat the Pelicans on Friday — note: Pelicans star Zion Williamson will miss the game with a hamstring strain, the team announced Wednesday — the Hawks would, via the Kevin Huerter trade, receive Sacramento’s first pick. For a team
that sent its Round 1 picks in 2025 and 2027 to San Antonio for Murray, every little bit could help.
As is, the Hawks seem to be going nowhere fast. For whatever reason, the Young-Murray pairing has failed to launch. Each is working on a hefty contract — Murray’s bears less heft — through 2027. (Young has an early termination option in 2026, but he’d be opting out of $48.9 million.) This team has too many gifted players to consider tanking, though we’re compelled to ask: Why isn’t a team with such gifts any good?
These Hawks were 14-14 without Young. That’s not great, but it beats their record — 22-32 — with him. If nothing else, they at least tried to guard somebody on nights their All-Star was unavailable.
The Hawks came close to dealing Murray before the February trade deadline. They’ll be tempted to shop Young this offseason — if they’re not, they haven’t been paying attention — though it’s unclear what return they could reap.
As it stands, it appears the Hawks must change something. The 2021 surge is a faded memory. There has been no consolidation of apparent gains. The rebuild under Travis Schlenk worked until it stopped working. Now he’s gone, and so are Nate McMillan and Huerter and John Collins.
What’s left? The NBA’s biggest mystery. Over the fullness of a regular season, the Hawks were the league’s most disappointing team.
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