Garrett Temple – New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans moved Lonzo Ball to the Chicago Bulls in a sign-and-trade this past offseason and in doing so, they not only acquired Tomas Satoransky and draft picks, but Garrett Temple as well.
Now in his 12th NBA season, Temple has always been a sturdy two-way player on the wing, and is someone the Pelicans will likely take trade calls for around the trade deadline.
Through 21 games with New Orleans this year, Garrett Temple is averaging 5.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and is shooting 37.3% from three-point range.
A career 34.7% three-point shooter from deep, Garrett Temple could give the Atlanta Hawks more shooting depth on the wing and be another veteran player they have to try make it back to the Eastern Conference Finals.
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The problem though for the Hawks with trading for Garrett Temple is that he recently signed a new three-year, $15.5M deal. Atlanta could waive him in the final year of said deal since it is non-guaranteed for the 2023-24 season, but they would have to pay him $4.9M this season and then $5.2M next season, which is not advantageous to the Hawks given their contract situations.
Trae Young is going to jump from making $8.3M this season to $29.75M next season, John Collins is going to go from $23M to $23.5M and Clint Capela is going to go from $17.1M to $18.2M next season.
The Hawks are dangerously close to being a tax-paying team in this league, which is why adding a contract like this may not be too favorable to them in the long-term.
In the short-term though, Temple is definitely a player who could fill big minutes with Reddish, Bogdanovic and Hunter out on the wing.
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Garrett Temple has been in the league for a while now and now on his 11th team in the league, he is continuing to produce when his number is called. Going after Temple would definitely give the Hawks some needed depth on the wing, but this decision would come down to whether or not they can afford him.
Verdict: Pursue
