The Atlanta Hawks have spent the past year reshaping their roster with a rare kind of clarity, moving from one era to the next without much drama. That front office work has given them flexibility for the long haul. It has also boxed them in a bit right now.
That tension is showing up in the Jonathan Kuminga situation. He remains available as an unrestricted free agent, but the path to a new contract appears to run through a sign-and-trade. And for that to happen, Atlanta would first have to agree to a return package.
If this had come together earlier in the summer, it likely would have been a much simpler process. But the market has tightened. The asking price is steep, the list of interested teams is shrinking, and the whole thing has settled into a stalemate.
Atlanta has acted all offseason as if Kuminga was going to be gone, and at this point that seems to be the case. That stance helps the Hawks, but it also means they have little incentive to take back salary in any deal. They are close to the luxury tax, something they have not paid in a long, long time, and they already have 17 players on the roster.
That creates another problem. Before the season starts, the Hawks will need to cut or trade two players, and there is no obvious candidate to move.
Everyone on the roster can contribute. Bringing in even one player through a Kuminga sign-and-trade would make that decision even more difficult, which is why any workable deal would likely have to involve multiple teams.
There is still at least some reason to think a complicated deal could come together. The recent NBA trade that sent Peyton Watson to Cleveland was a five-team transaction, a reminder that teams are still willing to cooperate when the structure gets messy. That trade also likely removes Cleveland from its earlier pursuit of Kuminga, which takes another possible landing spot out of the picture.
So the market is thinning, and the Hawks’ restrictions are obvious. That does not make a deal impossible, but it does make it hard. For now, the process looks more likely to drag than to resolve quickly.
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Hawks Face A Tough Buddy Hield Decision Before The Season
Atlanta is heading toward a familiar sort of roster squeeze, with 17 players currently on the books and room needing to be cleared before the 2026-27 season begins. The Hawks have to balance experience against flexibility, and Buddy Hield has emerged as one of the more interesting names in that conversation. The veteran guard still brings the kind of presence a team can use, but the margin for keeping everyone is shrinking.
Hield is not the only possible answer if the Hawks decide to trim the roster, since younger players could also be part of the equation. Still, his combination of age, salary, and role makes him hard to ignore as the front office sorts out where the teams priorities really lie. For a club trying to stay competitive while managing cost and depth, the decision could say a lot about what kind of team Atlanta wants to be once the season starts. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Have An Explosive Duo But One Huge Offensive Question
The Hawks already have a clear calling card in Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson, two players who were among the leagues best in transition possessions and efficiency last season, right alongside the kind of explosive finishers who can tilt a game in a hurry. Atlanta saw how dangerous that pairing can be when it was used with CJ McCollum in the teams smaller, faster lineup, where the pace and spacing gave the Hawks a different kind of edge than they usually bring.
The bigger issue is what comes next if that setup does not stay intact. McCollum is on a one-year extension, so Atlanta cannot count on him as a long-term piece, which leaves the front office looking for a more permanent offensive organizer to pair with Alexander-Walker and Johnson. Rookie Kingston Flemings has emerged as a name to watch in that search, and his development could end up shaping whether this group becomes simply intriguing or something more complete. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Have One Clear Kuminga Trade Condition To Watch
Jonathan Kumingas sign-and-trade market has thinned in a hurry, with recent moves around the league making it less likely that Cleveland or the Clippers will stay involved. That has left one West Coast destination looking far more plausible, while the Hawks sit in a familiar spot for a team weighing whether the deal actually improves its position rather than just adding another name to the board.
For Atlanta, any real interest would come with a clear condition attached: the structure has to make sense for the roster and the cap sheet, not just the headline. A multi-team setup remains the cleanest path if the Hawks decide to engage, since it could help them handle salary and open roster flexibility, but there is still no agreement in place and no sign that the talks have moved beyond the preliminary stage. [Read more 🡒]