The Atlanta Hawks made the move they had to make with Dyson Daniels, and the ripple effect may be bigger than just one contract.
Right before the 2025-26 regular season, Atlanta locked up its defensive anchor on a four-year, $100 million extension. After a breakout year that ended with Most Improved Player honors, the deal fit cleanly for the Hawks, who had the flexibility to get it done. At the time, the only player on the roster making max-level money was Trae Young, and he has since been shipped off.
That part matters, because not every team has Atlanta’s breathing room. Contenders especially tend to be boxed in, and the Oklahoma City Thunder are a clear example with their three main core pieces already tied to max deals.
Now the pressure point has shifted to Cason Wallace.
Wallace is up for an extension, and the money being discussed is already brushing against Daniels’ new standard. Per a recent intel drop from Jake Fischer and Marc Stein of The Stein Line, “talks between Wallace's camp and the Thunder, meanwhile, have begun in the $25 million range in annual average value,” with Daniels’ contract helping frame the conversation.
That gives Wallace’s side a clean benchmark. It also gives Oklahoma City a tougher problem to solve.
The Thunder tried to create more flexibility this summer by moving on from Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins, but the Wallace decision still looms. They do not have to settle it immediately, and Wallace is still heading toward restricted free agency next summer. Even so, there is always the possibility that another team comes in with a massive offer Oklahoma City can’t match.
Daniels, in that sense, may be setting the market before it even fully forms.
And even though Wallace is the first player to clearly use that deal as a reference point, he almost certainly won’t be the last.
The reason is simple: Daniels’ own numbers don’t tell the whole story. He has struggled from outside, but he still gives Atlanta real value every night because he can affect the game in so many other ways. League insiders, though, will keep staring at the shooting percentages, and that opens the door for agents to argue that players with more complete outside shooting deserve even more.
That is exactly where Wallace’s camp could push the discussion next. A strong defender who can also shoot efficiently has every reason to ask for more than Daniels got.
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CJ McCollum stepped into the conversation this week as criticism swirled around scheduling conflicts at State Farm Arena that had put the Hawks and the Atlanta Dream in the same awkward spotlight. He made clear the Hawks players were not the ones behind the calendar headaches, and instead directed his support toward the Dream, while also pointing to the attention Angel Reese has brought to the team.
The issue has already forced both sides to work around the venue calendar, and the solution includes a revised schedule built to give each team room to operate, with a doubleheader set for Oct. 24, 2026. Even with that fix in place, the bigger point McCollum was making was hard to miss: the Hawks should not be the target of blame in a situation that reflects broader coordination, not locker-room politics. [Read more 🡒]
Former Hawks Shooter Just Got A Chance Atlanta Fans Will Notice
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The Trail Blazers signed Houstan on an Exhibit-10 contract and plan to give him a look in preseason games, which at minimum puts him back on an NBA stage for a few weeks. The larger picture still points toward Portlands developmental pipeline, but for Atlanta followers, its the kind of familiar name worth tracking because it speaks to how far he has come since his time with the Hawks and where his next real opening might come from. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Just Got Pulled Into A Karl-Anthony Towns Rumor
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If that happens, the Hawks are among the teams being mentioned as possible landing spots, per ESPNs Brian Windhorst, alongside the Warriors and Clippers. Atlantas interest would not come as a surprise if Towns truly reaches the market, especially with the kind of flexibility the roster could have next offseason, but for now it remains one more layer in a situation that is still very much in wait-and-see mode. [Read more 🡒]