The Hawks have made their intentions pretty clear this offseason: they want Kingston Flemings’ path to the point guard job as open as possible.
Atlanta has already moved on from both Devin Carter and Ryan Nembhard after bringing each of them in earlier this offseason. Carter was waived, while Nembhard was part of the package with Buddy Hield that sent Dorian Finney-Smith to Atlanta.
On their own, those moves don’t lock in anything for Flemings. Together, though, they say plenty about where the Hawks are headed.
President of Basketball Operations Onsi Saleh seems committed to giving the rookie a clean runway. Instead of loading up the backcourt with more young guards chasing the same developmental minutes, Atlanta has trimmed the competition around the player it clearly views as a long-term answer.
That matters because Flemings needs reps more than anything else. Young point guards have to make decisions, live with mistakes and learn how NBA defenses are going to test them. Those chances get harder to come by when several similarly situated guards are all fighting for the same slice of the rotation.
Carter and Nembhard both had enough intrigue to stick around as depth pieces. Carter still had developmental upside, and Nembhard gave the Hawks another young ball-handler who could have pushed for opportunities under head coach Quin Snyder. But Atlanta already has players who can handle the ball, so keeping another developmental point guard wasn’t essential.
What the Hawks can offer Flemings instead is something more useful than an empty promise: a real route to meaningful minutes if he earns them. They don’t need to hand him the job right away. They just need to avoid boxing him out before he gets a fair shot.
CJ McCollum makes that setup even better. He brings immediate production, but he also gives Flemings a veteran guard to learn from - someone who can help him understand game management, rough patches and the demands of running an offense at this level. That’s a much better developmental environment than asking the rookie to compete with multiple prospects who are all trying to establish themselves at once.
Now Snyder can sort out Flemings’ role based on progress instead of roster clutter. If the rookie deserves more time, Atlanta has made room to give it to him.
That still doesn’t mean the Hawks should fast-track him. Rookie point guards are going to have uneven stretches, and Snyder’s priority this season still has to be winning. But the organization’s offseason choices make its long-term thinking pretty obvious.
Carter and Nembhard were useful options. Flemings is the one Atlanta chose to clear space for. Now the opportunity is there for him to prove he can be the Hawks’ point guard of the future.
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