The Hawks don’t need a full-scale overhaul as much as they need better answers. Atlanta has already leaned into the idea of improving the floor of the roster with smaller moves, but the bigger question for next season is how Quin Snyder can squeeze more out of the team tactically when the talent gap shows up.
Snyder’s fourth year gave Atlanta its clearest identity yet. He built an offense that fit Jalen Johnson, found ways to unlock Nickeil Alexander-Walker on the offensive end, and pushed the Hawks toward a faster, more athletic style that showed up in the second half of the season. It didn’t hold against the Knicks, but the process still got Atlanta back into the postseason.
There’s still plenty to tinker with, though, especially on offense. The Hawks finished as one of the NBA’s best scoring teams, ranking sixth in points per game, yet there are specific areas where the system can be sharpened.
One obvious place to look is Onyeka Okongwu. He has never been viewed as one of the league’s elite passing bigs, and that was part of the concern when he entered the 2020 draft out of USC, where he averaged just 1.3 assists per game and carried a 0.54 assist-to-turnover ratio.
But the passing has come along. Last season, Okongwu ranked fifth among centers in passes made, and his teammates were highly efficient on those touches, shooting 87% effective field goal percentage when finishing his assists.
That figure landed in the 91st percentile among all centers. He also checked in in the 94th percentile in potential assists per minute relative to his on-ball time.
The catch is that Atlanta didn’t really ask him to do much of that. Okongwu was on-ball for only 8.1% of his possessions, which ranked in the 24th percentile among power forwards.
If he’s grouped as a center, that same number sits just behind Ivica Zubac’s 9.6% of possessions on-ball, a mark that landed in the 69th percentile. It’s the kind of wrinkle the Hawks should be willing to test more often, especially in non-Jalen Johnson minutes.
Another area that deserves a hard look is transition offense. Atlanta wants to play fast, and last season it did.
The Hawks ranked fourth in transition frequency on offense and turned those possessions over only 10% of the time, the second-best rate in the league. That’s the good news.
The problem was the quality of those chances. Atlanta scored on just 50.8% of its transition possessions, which ranked 20th in the NBA.
It also didn’t get to the line much in those situations, finishing 22nd in both transition free-throw frequency and shots-fouled percentage. Even with a 60.5% effective field goal percentage in transition, the Hawks were only 19th league-wide there, and that was part of a broader issue because their transition defense was among the worst in the league, allowing the third-most points per possession.
That makes the next step pretty clear: Atlanta may need to lean a little less on trying to outrun everyone. The Hawks were the fastest offense in the league at 4.74 miles per hour, and that speed matters. But their playoff ceiling gets better if they spend more possessions in the half court, where Snyder can actually layer in actions instead of hoping athleticism wins the race.
There’s also work to do on the glass. The 2025-26 Hawks left too many second chances on the table.
In the playoffs, they ranked 14th out of 16 teams in offensive rebounds per game. The regular season was only slightly better, with Atlanta 18th in offensive rebounds per game and 20th in offensive rebounding percentage.
The deeper numbers tell the same story: they were 14th in offensive rebound chances and 22nd in offensive rebound chance percentage.
One possible answer is to pair Asa Newell with Onyeka Okongwu or Jalen Johnson. Newell is undersized, but as a rookie he grabbed 9.4% of his teammates’ missed shots, which put him in the 88th percentile. The offense might not always look pretty with those combinations, but the Hawks should be open to lineups that create more possessions during the regular season.
In Other News...
Hawks Could Catch A Break If Detroit's Biggest Problem Drags On
Jalen Durens situation in Detroit is the kind of subplot that can ripple well beyond one front office. The Pistons All-Star big man remains in restricted free agency, and the two sides still appear to be working from different places in contract talks, leaving a key piece of Detroits roster in limbo as the season approaches.
For the Hawks, the timing matters because Duren was a problem for them last season, giving Atlanta serious trouble inside when the teams met. If Detroits biggest unresolved issue lingers and the Pistons head into the year without that kind of anchor settled, it could trim some of the edge from a team the Hawks may have to chase in the East. [Read more 🡒]
Hawks Fans Have A New Reason To Debate Who's Underrated
With NBA2K27 now out worldwide, Hawks fans have a fresh way to size up the roster before the real games begin. Atlanta landed in Tier 2 with an 81 overall rating, a respectable mark that still leaves room for debate, especially when a game like this turns every lineup decision into a public conversation.
Jalen Johnson heads the team at 87 overall, but the more interesting discussion is around the players sitting just below him. Onyeka Okongwu, Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker are the names most likely to fuel the usual too low arguments, and their early ratings give supporters another reason to watch how the season unfolds. As always with a new 2K release, the numbers are only the opening statement, and the real argument will come from how those players perform once the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Heat Concerns Could Matter More To Hawks Fans Than Expected
Ira Windermans look at the Heats backcourt situation is the kind of neighboring-development Hawks fans should keep an eye on, especially with Miami expected to be in the same crowded slice of the Eastern Conference. Davion Mitchell gives the Heat a solid starting point at point guard, but the overall shape of the roster still matters for a team trying to stay in the contender conversation in a conference where small advantages can swing the standings.
FanDuel has Miami and Toronto projected to land tied for sixth in the East at 45 1/2 wins, which would put both teams in the mix for a play-in path and make every depth question feel a little louder. For Atlanta, that means one more rival whose margin for error could be tested over the course of the season, and the Heats ability to steady the position behind Mitchell may wind up being part of the bigger picture even if it does not look like it right away. [Read more 🡒]