With NBA Basketball looming around the corner, the Hawks have made it clear how they are approaching this season. Here is the Hawks’ current state as of September before the offseason/pre-season training camp starts.

End of Season

The Hawks ended their season with a disappointing loss to the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the play-in games. The Hawks kept it close until the end of the third quarter when the Bulls created separation and won the game. 

At the minimum, the expectations set for the Hawks were playoffs, but they failed to get past the playoffs. However, the Trae-Dejounte experiment did not mesh well, and the combination of Trae Young returning from injury led to the end of a disappointing season. 

Subtractions

With the disappointing end, Atlanta stepped back and reinforced the idea of building around Trae Young. Players that are not playing for the Hawks next season:

• Dejounte Murray (Traded – New Orlean Pelicans)
• Saddiq Bey (Walked in Free Agency – Signed with Washington Wizards [3 yr – $20 mil])
• Trent Forrest (Walked in Free Agency – Overseas [Spain’s Baskonia])
• Bruno Fernando (Walked in Free Agency – Signed with Toronto Raptors [1 yr – $2 mil])
• Wesley Matthews (Free Agent)

Additions/Returnees

Focusing on building all-in around Trae, the Hawks desired to get younger, emphasizing shooting and defense. Newly added/returning players include:

• Zaccharie Risacher (1st overall pick)
• Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance Jr, Cody Zeller (New Orleans Pelicans – Dejounte Trade)]
• Vit Krejci (re-signed [4 yr – $10 mil])
• Keaton Wallace, Seth Lundy, Dominick Barlow (two-way contracts)
• E.J. Liddell (traded David Roddy to the Suns)

Projected Depth Chart

This is how I predict the depth chart is going to be:

	Starters	2nd	3rd
PG	Trae Young	Kobe Bufkin	Vit Krejci
SG	Dyson Daniels	Bogdan Bogdanovic (6th man)	Garrison Matthews
SF	Zaccharie Risacher	De’Andre Hunter	E.J. Liddell
PF	Jalen Johnson	Larry Nance Jr.	Dominick Barlow
C	Clint Capela	Onyeka Okongwu	Cody Zeller

I expect the Hawks and Snyder to go young, opting to start Daniels and continue to have Bogie on the bench as the 6th man.

Cap Space

The Hawks are $35 million over the cap space, giving them about $5 mil for the 1st Apron and $16 mil for the 2nd Apron. They will be tied down in the future due to long-term contracts, but they will have more cap space in the following years (2026-2027) since the upcoming contracts will expire.

We will see the Hawks again on Sept. 30, when Media Day will occur. Training camp will be at the University of Georgia on Oct. 1-3.