The Hawks are heading into 2026-27 with the kind of momentum they’ve been trying to build for years, and ESPN thinks that momentum holds. After finishing 46-36 last season, Atlanta is projected to land right back in the playoff mix, this time as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 47-35 record.
That would keep the Hawks on the path they started carving out a year ago. Last season was their first winning campaign since 2021-2022, when they went 43-39, and they followed it by grabbing the No. 6 seed before pushing the eventual champions, the New York Knicks, to six games in the first round.
ESPN’s forecast, released on August 24 in its “NBA Summer Forecast 2026-27: Projections for East and West standings,” came from NBA reporter Jamal Collier. His projection leaves Atlanta in a familiar neighborhood near the top of a crowded conference, even if the win total doesn’t move much.
The East, as Collier sees it, is shaping up to be a grind. He has the Boston Celtics finishing with just one more win than Atlanta, while the Miami Heat sit one spot behind the Hawks with the same record. That’s notable because Miami also made a major splash this summer, trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo and signing Klay Thompson.
Collier’s board also has the Toronto Raptors at No. 8 and the Indiana Pacers at No. 9. Both of those teams made headline-grabbing moves of their own: Toronto reacquired Kawhi Leonard, and Tyrese Haliburton is back for Indiana after missing all of last season with a torn Achilles tendon.
Atlanta, meanwhile, chose a different route. Instead of chasing a huge splash, the Hawks stayed steady, banking on internal growth and adding depth to the roster with Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins. The organization valued future draft capital and financial flexibility over a more aggressive win-now swing.
That approach could pay off later. Several teams, including the Heat, Raptors, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Philadelphia 76ers, are pushing chips in now, and the Hawks may be waiting for the moment when those older rosters begin to fade. If Atlanta times its next big move right, it could be in position to climb higher and eventually push itself into the championship conversation.
There’s also a path for the Hawks to create more room for that kind of move. Next summer, several contracts will expire, with CJ McCollum, Jock Landale, Mouhamed Gueye, and Dort all set to become free agents. That opens up plenty of money for Atlanta if it wants to chase a major name in free agency.
In Other News...
Hawks Just Made Their Development Pipeline Plan Harder To Ignore
The Hawks are tightening the link between Atlanta and College Park in a way that is hard to miss. Ryan Silverstein has been named general manager of the College Park Skyhawks while continuing in his role as the teams vice president of cap strategy and player personnel, a setup that keeps front office priorities and G League development on the same track. It is the kind of move that suggests the organization wants a clearer pipeline, not just more bodies moving up and down between rosters.
Sanjay Lumpkin and Reggis Onwukamuche are also part of that larger structure, taking over as the Skyhawks head coach and associate head coach while remaining assistants with the Hawks. The staff shuffle does not stop there, either, with Aaron Evans moving up to pro scout and Steve Klei shifting into a full-time assistant coaching role. For a team trying to build depth and continuity, the message is pretty plain: the development side is being treated like an extension of the main bench, and the next step in that plan is the part everyone will watch. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Have A Front Office Edge Fans Should Value Right Now
The NBAs punishment of the Clippers over salary-cap circumvention tied to Kawhi Leonard was a stark reminder of how costly front-office missteps can become, and why organizations spend so much time trying to stay on the right side of the leagues rules. For the Hawks, it also serves as a useful backdrop for the value of Onsi Saleh, whose role in basketball operations has given Atlanta a leader steeped in the salary cap, the CBA and the legal side of team building.
That matters because the Hawks are trying to improve the roster without boxing themselves into a corner later, a balance that is easier talked about than executed. Salehs experience gives Atlanta a built-in edge in that process, with the kind of judgment that helps a team chase upgrades while still protecting future flexibility, which is exactly the sort of discipline front offices get judged on when the league starts handing out real consequences. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Season May Come Down To One Debate Fans Know Well
The Hawks enter the season with the kind of roster that invites both optimism and second-guessing, which is usually where the conversation around this team starts anyway. Their offseason changes gave them more ways to build around the core, and the shape of the roster suggests there is at least a plausible path to meaningful progress if the returners take another step and the new pieces settle in quickly.
For Atlanta, the real issue is whether the gains are enough to patch the familiar weak spots that have tripped them up before. There is a version of this season where the group looks more connected and much harder to defend, but there is also a familiar floor if the same problems linger and the new additions do not move the needle the way the front office needs them to. [Read more 🡒]