The Atlanta Hawks had one of the most surprising seasons in the NBA in 2020-21. They were originally expected to be a play-in team but they qualified as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. They would then make it to the Eastern Conference Finals before being knocked out by the eventual champions the Milwaukee Bucks.
One of the reasons that it was so surprising was that the Hawks had such a good season was that they had massive injury issues. They were without Danilo Gallinari, Kris Dunn, Tony Snell, and rookie Onyeka Okongwu for the start of the season for varying periods of time.
They then lost Bogdan Bogdanovic to a fractured knee and while he was out their two other main wings, De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish to injury for the majority of the season. All of this had a role in costing coach Lloyd Pierce his job just prior to the All-Star break.
The Hawks then promoted Nate McMillan to the interim role and he turned the team around, starting with putting some structure around Trae Young who had a tremendous season. Young then had a debut playoff series the likes of which have not been seen in the NBA for a long time.
The Atlanta Hawks made some savvy offseason moves that saved their season.
The Hawks’ first move of the offseason was to trade Dewayne Dedmon to the Detroit Pistons for Tony Snell and Khyri Thomas, who they later waived. They also signed Bogdanovic, Rajon Rondo, Solomon Hill, and then traded a future second-round pick for Gallinari.
Then, at the trade deadline, the Hawks traded Rondo, who they had signed to fix their issues when Young sat. In return for Rondo, the Hawks received Lou Williams who was a revelation for the team, fixing their non-Young minutes and their fourth quarters.
Due to the Hawks making the conference finals, they will be expecting to get back to a similar level next season. With all that in mind, let’s look at the five offseason roster moves the Atlanta Hawks need to make.