The last two years have been tough for head coach Lloyd Pierce, as the Atlanta Hawks have gone 49-100 in his first two NBA seasons as the head coach. Very little of the blame can go on Pierce himself though as the Hawks have been acquiring young talent and rebuilding ever since they tore their team apart in 2016.

Now, after a fantastic offseason, the Atlanta Hawks may be finally on the verge of making it back to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. Atlanta added Danilo Gallinari and Bogdan Bogdanovic, two of the top free agents on the market this offseason and they also signed Rajon Rondo, Kris Dunn, and Solomon Hill.

Through 12 games this season, Atlanta is 5-7 overall, but have been without both of their key offseason additions for a handful of games now as Gallinari is week-to-week with an ankle sprain and Bogdanovic is out indefinitely after suffering an avulsion knee fracture.

With these two guys being out, some of the Hawks’ young core has stepped up into bigger roles this year and look like really solid role players moving forward when this team is 100% healthy. De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish and Kevin Huerter have all stepped up given the Hawks’ injury situation and with their young talent starting to come into their own, this organization is trending in a very positive direction. 

The only question mark still lingering is the status of John Collins and his future with this organization. Will the Hawks deal their young big man after failing to reach an agreement on a contract extension in the offseason? After all, Collins did turn down a $90M contract-extension, so could he be a player on the move before the trade deadline this year?

Let’s take a look at a potential trade that would send John Collins to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for a versatile and young wing player, as well as three valuable NBA Draft picks.