NBA free agency opens tonight, and the Atlanta Hawks still have the same glaring issue hanging over the roster: center depth.
Onyeka Okongwu is there, and the Hawks clearly have faith in him. But the options behind him are thin, with rookies Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar in the mix and Mouhamed Gueye more of an emergency answer than a real rotation piece.
The playoffs against the Knicks made the problem hard to ignore. Atlanta needed more size inside, more rim protection, and more rebounding.
That makes the center market worth watching as free agency begins at 6:00 p.m. ET, even if this class is not exactly loaded. A few names stand out for the Hawks, starting with the most obvious internal fit.
Jock Landale is the cleanest solution if Atlanta simply wants to run it back with a player who already helped them. Acquired for cash considerations at the trade deadline, Landale was solid down the stretch and gave the Hawks exactly what they were looking for: physicality, floor spacing, and rebounding.
He is also coming off the best season of his career, split between Atlanta and Memphis. The only issue is that his late-season play likely put him on the radar for other teams, too.
If the Hawks want to swing bigger, Robert Williams III is the headline name. He is widely viewed as the top center available and could land a deal around the non-tax MLE, a little over $15 million.
Atlanta has access to that after declining the team option on Jonathan Kuminga yesterday. Williams comes with the kind of risk the Hawks would have to weigh carefully, especially given his injury history, but the upside is obvious.
He is an elite defender and rim protector, exactly the sort of presence Atlanta lacked when the season got tight.
Last season, Williams played 59 games, averaging 6.7 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 1.5 BPG while logging 17.1 MPG and shooting over 70% from the floor. Before that, though, he had only played in 61 games combined over the previous three seasons.
He does not look like someone built to carry major minutes anymore, but as a backup, he still makes plenty of sense. He is also coming off a strong playoff series against the Spurs.
Mitchell Robinson is another name with obvious appeal. He was a major reason the Knicks knocked Atlanta out of the playoffs, and now he is an unrestricted free agent. New York does not appear to be heading into the second apron to keep him, which opens the door for him to get paid after the best season of his career.
Robinson brings elite rebounding and rim protection, but there are clear complications. He has injury concerns, he is not built for heavy minutes, and his free throw shooting is a major weakness that could become even more damaging in the playoffs. He fits the profile of a perfect backup center, but the price could push him beyond what teams usually pay for that role.
Then there is Sandro Mamukelashvili, a less obvious target but an intriguing one. He was one of the better bench players in the league last season and quietly put together the best year of his career. He averaged 11.2 PPG and 4.9 RPG in a little over 20 minutes per game, while knocking down 39% of his three-pointers on nearly four attempts a night.
The selling point is clear: he spaces the floor. The drawback is just as clear: defense.
Mamukelashvili does not offer much rim protection, and Atlanta would have to decide how much it wants to sacrifice on that end to get more shooting from the center spot. His stock has climbed during the season, and he is expected to get paid when free agency opens.
In Other News...
Hawks Just Made A Backup Center Move With Bigger Implications
Atlanta had already spent the summer sorting out the edges of its frontcourt, and Nicolo Mellis return clarifies at least one part of the picture. The Hawks are bringing him back on a one-year, fully guaranteed deal worth $14 million, using nearly all of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception to get it done because his Non-Bird Rights would not have allowed them to get to that salary any other way. The move points to a clear role for Melli behind Onyeka Okongwu, giving Atlanta a backup center option it knows well.
Mellis return also comes with a bit of roster math attached, because the Hawks are now closer to the tax line and have less flexibility for whatever comes next. He was productive in his time with Atlanta, and his floor spacing gives the team a different look when Okongwu sits, but the bigger question is how much room the Hawks will have left to maneuver if another decision needs to be made before camp. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Just Sent A Telling Message About Their Center Debate
Atlantas center conversation appears to have settled at least for now, with Jock Landale set to return on a one-year deal and the front office signaling it is comfortable moving forward with Onyeka Okongwu as the starting five. The message from the Hawks is pretty clear: they are leaning into the group they already have rather than chasing a pricier fix on the open market, and Landales return gives them another experienced body in the middle without forcing a major reshuffle.
Landale also arrived with a built-in role after coming over from the Utah Jazz just before the trade deadline, so this is not exactly a fresh experiment. What makes the decision more interesting is the way Atlanta views its own finish to last season, since Landales late injury may have had a hand in the playoff issues against the Knicks, especially around rim protection and rebounding. Even with that backdrop, the Hawks seem prepared to trust continuity over a bigger splash, and that choice says plenty about how they see the center debate right now. [Read more 🡒]