In the midst of free agency, the Atlanta Hawks have been staying busy on the trade market.
After recently acquiring All-Star guard Dejounte Murray from the San Antonio Spurs, the Hawks went out and made another move by trading Kevin Huerter to the Sacramento Kings on Friday, first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
In exchange for Huerter, the Hawks are receiving veterans Justin Holiday and Maurice Harkless, as well as a lottery-protected 2024 first-round pick from Sacramento. This pick becomes Top-12 protected in 2025 if not conveyed and then Top-10 protected in 2026.
Now missing the postseason for the 16th consecutive season, the Sacramento Kings have been on a quest this offseason to fix their misfortunes.
They started doing so in the middle of the 2021-22 season by trading for All-Star Domantas Sabonis and now, after hiring Mike Brown to be their next head coach, the Kings have continued to stockpile talent at every position.
Keegan Murray was their fourth pick in this year’s draft, adding some much-needed scoring depth on the wing, and the Kings also made a move on the first day of free agency, bringing in De’Aaron Fox’s former teammate at Kentucky in Malik Monk.
Still needing some more depth out on the perimeter and on the wing, trading for Kevin Huerter made a ton of sense for Sacramento given that he is on an affordable contract and can be an instant source of scoring in any rotation for them.
The Kings really did not give up much either in this trade with the Hawks, as Maurice Harkless was nothing more than a rotational player for them at either forward spot and Justin Holiday was a veteran the team acquired in their Tyrese Haliburton-Domantas Sabonis trade deadline deal.
The only real asset Sacramento traded away for Kevin Huerter was the protected 2024 first-round pick, a draft pick the Kings are banking on being in the 20-30 range given their playoff hopes over the next few seasons.
In Atlanta, trading for Dejounte Murray was not the only deal the Hawks’ front-office had their eyes on. In the days leading up to the NBA Draft, the Hawks were engaged in trade talks involving both Kevin Huerter and John Collins.
Now, with Huerter gone, the big question mark that remains on the Hawks roster is John Collins.
There were multiple reports this past year about Collins being unhappy in Atlanta, but now looking like the third key option in an offense led by Dejounte Murray and Trae Young, the former first-round pick seems to still be a part of Atlanta’s core group.
However, sources tell SI Fastbreak that the Hawks have still received interest from some teams in John Collins and they are still looking to make moves in order to put themselves in the championship conversation right now.
Saving a little bit of cap space by making this trade, the Hawks also open up more time for De’Andre Hunter and rookie AJ Griffin out the wing by trading Huerter to the Kings.
Overall, this is a pretty well-balanced trade that gives both teams what they were looking for. Still being right at the tax line for the 2022-23 season, it is going to be interesting to see what further moves the Atlanta Hawks are willing to make.