Paul Millsap a sign-and-trade target for Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks aren’t done shocking the world and blowing it up just yet, folks.

As we’ve already noted, the Hawks caught the NBA realm off guard in a big way Tuesday night by shipping away Dwight Howard in a hilarious sequence of events. Now the drama around the franchise turns to forward Paul Millsap.

Millsap, 32 years old, is still a quality veteran producer who posted 18.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last year. But the Hawks don’t seem interested, and as we’ve covered, they apparently have no intention of hitting him with a max.

Now the Hawks might seek out a sign-and-trade partner, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst during a television segment (h/t Peachtreehoops’s Brad Rowland):

“There are three or four teams out there that are willing to give Paul Millsap a max-level contract, and sources have told me that the Hawks have already begun getting some feelers on Paul Millsap sign-and-trades. Teams like the Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets [are] interested in Paul Millsap, and this is so interesting because, at midseason, Paul Millsap was put on the trade block and there was a revolt in the locker room and Mike Budenholzer, the team president, pushed back against it. They took him off the trade block and then here we are a few months later – they’re probably going to lose Paul Millsap anyway and Mike Budenholzer is no longer in charge of the team.”

Long story short, the Hawks want to blow it up and have every intention to do so. Western Conference teams like those mentioned above aren’t surprising here. The Phoenix Suns want veterans on the roster to help along a Devin Booker-led core. The Denver Nuggets could  use someone next to breakout star Nikola Jokic. And the Sacramento Kings have a pair of top-10 picks set to join the roster, barring a trade.

And those are just the interested teams we know about. It’s smart on the Hawks to get something from Millsap’s eventual departure, no matter how much fans or the players themselves might disagree with his leaving. The Hawks clearly have a rebuilding plan and Millsap isn’t part of it.