The Hawks’ first two losses of the season didn’t just ding the record. They gave Atlanta a clearer read on what this new roster can actually be.
Both defeats came against Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets, and the matchups also featured Houston’s young tandem of Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun. More importantly for Atlanta, those games helped answer two big questions about how the Hawks are taking shape under Coach Quin Snyder.
The first is whether the newcomers are plugging in cleanly enough to matter when the games tighten up later on. Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort are supposed to bring championship experience to the mix, and Wiggins has already looked comfortable in the role.
He’s taken over as the No. 1 option off the bench, and his early production has been exactly the kind of spark Atlanta needed. In four games, he’s averaging 15.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 53.5% from the field and 48.0% from three.
He scored 12 points in the most recent game, but the larger trend has been encouraging.
Wiggins has a history of being a dependable scorer for the Oklahoma City Thunder, so unless injuries get in the way, the Hawks could keep getting this version of him all season.
Dort’s start has been much messier on offense. He’s shooting 37.9% overall and just 23.5% from deep, which is exactly why President of Basketball Operations Onsi Saleh knew he’d need time to sort out his shot when he was acquired.
But even with the jumper not there yet, Dort’s defense has shown up. That side of his game was one of the few positives Atlanta could lean on in both losses to Houston, and it helped keep those games close.
The second question is whether the Hawks have truly raised their defensive level. Through the team’s 2-2 start, the answer looks like yes. Dyson Daniels is already playing like a Defensive Player of the Year candidate, and the rest of the roster has followed his lead.
That showed up most clearly in the second game of the season, when Atlanta hammered the Charlotte Hornets by 47 points after forcing them into 30-for-87 shooting as a team. The same defensive edge carried into the Rockets games, which is a strong sign that the Hawks are moving toward something sturdier on that end of the floor.
The wrinkle is that Atlanta’s offense has been the thing holding the team back so far. On Monday night, Nickeil Alexander-Walker went 5-for-13 and Jalen Johnson was 5-for-14. It’s not often that Atlanta’s top two options end up with just five shot attempts apiece, and that imbalance is part of why the Hawks have hit their first skid of the season.
Still, the bigger picture is fairly clear from these first four games. The defense is trending up, the new pieces are settling in, and the natural growing pains that come with a new system are showing up where you’d expect. Once the shots start to fall on a more consistent basis, this roster should reveal a lot more of what it can become.
In Other News...
Zaccharie Risacher Move Just Put Hawks' Long-Term Faith In Doubt
Zaccharie Risachers path has already taken an unexpected turn since the 2024 NBA draft, when the Hawks made him the No. 1 overall pick and handed him the kind of runway teams usually reserve for cornerstone talents. Instead of continuing that development in Atlanta, he was traded to Dallas, a move that immediately changed the backdrop around one of the leagues most closely watched young players.
For the Hawks, the deal also leaves behind a quiet but important question about what their long-term faith in Risacher might have looked like if he had stayed. Dallas is now operating with a very different kind of confidence in his trajectory, while Atlanta is left to wonder how his growth would have been judged in its own system and timeline. [Read more 🡒]
Atlanta Sports Fans Got A Brutal Reminder About Sharing State Farm Arena
State Farm Arenas shared-calendar reality became a headache this week, with the Atlanta Dreams ownership publicly taking aim at the WNBA over a scheduling clash that reached all the way into the Finals. The issue traces back to the arenas dual use by the Dream and the Hawks, and the Dream say they flagged the conflict well before the postseason schedule became a problem.
The frustration only grew when a Finals game had to be shifted to an earlier start to make room for an Atlanta Hawks home game later that night. For Dream officials, it was a reminder of how easily one teams playoff moment can get complicated when two franchises are trying to share the same building, and for Atlanta fans it was a jarring glimpse at the limits of a packed downtown schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Kingston Flemings Just Put Quin Snyder On The Spot
The Hawks third straight loss to Miami didnt come with much good news, but it did offer one of the more eye-opening individual performances of the young season. Rookie Kingston Flemings came off the bench and gave Atlanta a jolt, showing a level of poise and production that stood out in a game the Hawks otherwise struggled to control.
Flemings finished with a career-high 23 points and added five rebounds and five assists, along with two combined steals and blocks, giving Quin Snyder something to think about when it comes to his rotation. For a team looking for answers after another setback, the larger question now is whether Flemings has done enough to force his way into a more consistent role moving forward. [Read more 🡒]