The Hawks have made a habit of treating the back end of the roster like it matters, and their latest move fits that pattern. Atlanta signed Jalen Wilson to a two-way contract, adding a player with real NBA mileage to a spot plenty of teams leave as an afterthought.
That matters because Wilson is not arriving as a project. He spent the last three seasons in the Brooklyn Nets’ nightly rotation after being selected in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft.
Across those three years, he averaged more than seven points and two rebounds per game, and he was trusted with a meaningful role far earlier than most second-round picks. For the most part, he delivered.
The fit is straightforward: the Hawks are getting someone who already knows what NBA minutes look like, even if his efficiency dipped last season. Brooklyn also moved in a different direction with its newly acquired young talent, which opened the door for Wilson to move on. There was a sense around the league that he could land a cheap standard deal somewhere, but Atlanta was able to bring him in on a two-way, giving itself value at the deepest part of the roster.
That’s been a lane the Hawks have used well before. They don’t have a recent superstar story tied to a two-way contract, but they’ve gotten useful minutes when they needed them.
Christian Koloko is a good example. When Atlanta was without both of its top two centers for a short stretch last season, Koloko was pushed into action and handled an important run of regular-season games.
The pattern has repeated enough to matter. Keaton Wallace did it.
Caleb Houstan did it. Now Wilson gets the same chance.
If he makes the most of it, he could be next in line to turn a two-way opportunity into something more.
In Other News...
Hawks Fans Suddenly Have A New Reason To Love That 2027 Pick
The Hawks have a quietly interesting asset sitting out in the future, and it came to them in the Dejounte Murray trade. Atlanta owns the worse of Milwaukees and New Orleans 2027 first-round picks, a selection that once looked more like a late-lottery or mid-20s swing than a potential difference-maker.
Now the calculus has changed. New Orleans has largely stood pat after a 26-56 season, while Milwaukee has undergone a major roster reset, and that combination has pushed Atlantas pick into a far more attractive range. What once looked like a throw-in could end up carrying top-10 value, giving the Hawks another reason to keep one eye on the long game. [Read more 🡒]
Lu Dort Trade Signals Hawks Are Building Something Dangerous
The Hawks spent part of the offseason adding two Canadian guards in Lu Dort and Ryan Nembhard, a move that says plenty about where the front office thinks this roster is headed. Dort arrives from Oklahoma City with the kind of defensive edge Atlanta has been trying to sharpen, while Nembhard comes over from Dallas as another piece in a broader effort to deepen the group for the 2026-27 season.
It is also a reminder of how close Atlanta was to a better spring and how far it still has to go. The Hawks finished tied with Toronto, only to lose the tiebreaker and land behind the Raptors in the playoff bracket, then saw their season end with a brutal Game 6 home loss to the Knicks. If the new additions fit the way Atlanta hopes, the next version of this team could look a lot harder to deal with. [Read more 🡒]