Atlanta Hawks: 5 potential free agency targets in 2018

After a dismal 2017-18 season, the Atlanta Hawks enter this summer with an abundance of cap space. How will they use that available room?

It wasn’t a good year to cheer for the Atlanta Hawks in 2017-18. The team moved on from most of their veterans and embarked on an aggressive tanking effort in an attempt to nab the next franchise player in the 2018 NBA Draft.

Aside from a few bright spots (Taurean Prince, rookie John Collins, Kent Bazemore when he was healthy), there wasn’t much reason to watch this team. Of course, the front office hopes that first round selections Trae Young and Kevin Huerter bring some excitement back to the Phillips Arena.

With Mike Muscala and Dewayne Dedmon picking up their player options, the Hawks will have a little more than $70 million in guaranteed salaries for next year. This means that the team has some room to make a splash in free agency. However, don’t expect the likes of LeBron James, DeMarcus Cousins, Paul George or Chris Paul to suit up for Atlanta next season.

Instead, I expect the Hawks to bring in solid veterans on reasonable deals and to take on some bad contracts in salary dump trades to maintain their flexibility going forward. I don’t think they’ll overpay a player just to say that they’ve spent money.

Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk should approach this offseason with a modest mindset. These five signings would fall in line with that philosophy.