The Eastern Conference is loaded up for another grind, and Atlanta looks like a team that can hang around the middle of the pack - but maybe not much higher than that.
That’s the basic read on the Hawks after a season in which they finished with the No. 6 seed, won 45-plus games and pushed the eventual champion New York Knicks to six games in the first round. That wasn’t a throwaway year by any means. Atlanta proved it could win, and it proved it could make life uncomfortable for a title team that barely stumbled anywhere else in the postseason.
But the road ahead is tougher. A lot tougher.
The East now features the Philadelphia 76ers with LeBron James back in the conference, plus a long list of teams that either already lived in the playoff picture or added enough talent to get there. The Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls are the only teams that look clearly out of the race. Everybody else has a case.
Miami and Toronto both made major additions in Giannis Antetokounmpo and, potentially, Kawhi Leonard. Boston, Cleveland and Detroit are all coming off 50-win seasons.
The Knicks are fresh off a championship and aren’t going anywhere. Indiana was in the NBA Finals just one season ago, Orlando nearly knocked off Detroit in the first round, and even Charlotte and Washington made notable changes.
The Hornets moved on from LaMelo Ball and brought in more spacing around Kon Knueppel with Naz Reid, Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale. The Wizards added the No. 1 overall pick in AJ Dybantsa to a starting group that already includes Trae Young and Anthony Davis.
So yes, Atlanta has a fight on its hands.
Still, there are reasons to believe the Hawks can stay relevant. The biggest one is that they played their best basketball after trading Trae Young and reshaping the roster around Jalen Johnson.
Lu Dort should help a defense that needed help on the perimeter, and the front office also added first-round picks Kingston Flemings and Zuby Ejiofor. Those rookies probably won’t be instant difference-makers, but they do give Atlanta more to work with down the line.
The Hawks also have four of five starters back, and they play fast enough to catch teams before those teams settle in. That matters in November and December, especially in a conference where a lot of the established playoff clubs changed pieces and will need time to sort things out. Atlanta may have a built-in early advantage simply by being more familiar with itself.
The concern is what happens once the league catches up.
Atlanta still needs to become more dangerous in the half court, and the moves it made don’t really raise the ceiling much for 2026-27 in that area. President of basketball operations Onsi Saleh may not be in a position to swing big at the trade deadline unless the East opens up in a major way. The Hawks need progress, but this doesn’t look like the year to force the issue.
There’s also the reality that rookies are rarely the answer to everything right away. That’s part of why Atlanta brought back CJ McCollum and Jock Landale.
Those moves help, but they don’t suddenly give the Hawks the kind of firepower needed to go toe-to-toe with the conference’s best offenses. Dort alone isn’t enough to turn the defense into a top-10 unit, and if Jalen Johnson doesn’t get back to his usual level on that end, his recent defensive regression could become a problem.
That’s why a 45-win season feels like a stretch in this field. More likely, Atlanta lands in the 40-to-45 range, and that probably means the play-in.
If that’s where the Hawks end up, they should still be in decent shape. A matchup with Miami would be less likely unless Giannis misses a long stretch, and the Heat are the kind of team that usually knows how to survive that format anyway. Atlanta could also draw a 76ers team dealing with injuries, a Hornets group still adjusting after losing LaMelo Ball, or an Orlando team that takes time to get used to new head coach Sean Sweeney before finding its rhythm late.
No matter the opponent, Atlanta should be able to make a game of it. By then, Flemings and Ejiofor should have some NBA miles on them, and the Hawks’ existing chemistry with Jalen Johnson, NAW, Dyson Daniels and Onyeka Okongwu gives them a real edge against a lot of play-in competition. Even if they drop the first game, they still look good to get through.
That’s the line here: Atlanta should survive the play-in, but in the regular season, the Hawks look more like the No. 7 seed than a team ready to climb much higher.
In Other News...
Hawks Center Search Just Ran Into A Familiar Problem
The Hawks search for help at center has led them to a familiar kind of target: a proven starter who would look good on paper and be difficult to pry loose in practice. Jarrett Allen has drawn Atlantas interest as a possible upgrade in the middle, which makes sense for a team trying to strengthen a key spot, but the path from interest to actual movement is already crowded with the usual hurdles of roster math and salary matching.
Atlanta would have to trim its roster from 17 players to 15 and clear enough money to make a deal workable, and Allens contract only adds to the challenge. For now, the idea remains speculative, with no trade or sign-and-trade agreement in place, which leaves the Hawks still searching for a realistic way to turn a big-man wish list into something more concrete. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Rumors Are Finally Testing How Aggressive Onsi Saleh Really Is
The Hawks are still in the early stages of sorting out how they want to reshape the roster, but the direction is becoming clearer. Atlanta has 17 players on hand and will need to trim to 15 before the 2026-27 season, which gives the front office a little time but not much room for indecision. Along the way, the team has been linked to a few bigger swings as it looks for ways to upgrade the group around its core.
One of those ideas involves Peyton Watson, with Atlanta considering a sign-and-trade while he remains a restricted free agent. The broader picture is what makes the rumor mill worth watching: the Hawks are trying to be opportunistic, and every possible move carries roster implications. Nothing has been finalized yet, but the fact that Atlanta is exploring multiple paths suggests the next few decisions could say a lot about how aggressive the front office plans to be. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Still Arent Getting The Kuminga Deal They Need
The Hawks are still carrying 17 players as the regular season approaches, which leaves them needing to trim the roster by two and keeps Jonathan Kuminga at the center of their summer math. Atlanta has explored the possibility of bringing him back or moving him in a sign-and-trade, with Cleveland and Los Angeles the two teams most often tied to the discussion, but nothing has moved far enough to solve the roster crunch.
For now, the hold-up is simple: the Hawks have not seen an offer they like enough to turn a complicated fit into a clean transaction. Clevelands cap situation makes a sign-and-trade the path forward, while the Lakers have also been in the mix, but Atlanta is still waiting for a framework that makes sense on both the basketball and roster-management fronts. [Read more 🡒]