With free agency being just a week away on July 1, the Atlanta Hawks will be faced with two key questions regarding All-Star Paul Millap.
Should they re-sign Millsap near a max level, which would limit their ability to upgrade the rest of their roster? Or, should they allow Millsap to walk, which would open plenty of cap space, but also put a fork in the road as to which direction the franchise wants to go next season?
The video below breaks down the Hawk’s current cap situation:
[protected-iframe id=”470594d3a88b6c23745a5fcf8426dd72-114320562-25928832″ info=”//screencast-o-matic.com/embed?sc=cb1ZhKlhwB&v=5&ff=1″ width=”726″ height=”293″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]Looking back at last season, the Hawks finished with the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference with a record of 43-39. They had the 4th best defense in the NBA and 27th ranked offense. When the playoffs finally came, they fell in six games to the Washington Wizards.
Before the NBA draft began, the Hawks made their first change to their roster as they sent Dwight Howard to Charlotte in exchange for big man Miles Plumlee and shooter Marco Belinelli.
In the draft, the Hawks selected 6’10” forward John Collins in the first round and 6’5 guard Tyler Dorsey and 6’10 forward Alpha Kaba in the second round.
The Hawks’ current roster is displayed below with Collins.
| Atlanta |
| Dennis Schroder |
| Malcolm Delaney |
| Jose Calderon |
| Kent Bazemore |
| DeAndre’ Bembry |
| Marco Belinelli |
| Tim Hardaway Jr. |
| Thabo Sefolosha |
| Mike Dunleavy |
| Taurean Prince |
| Paul Millsap |
| Kris Humphries |
| Ersan Ilyasova |
| Ryan Kelly |
| Miles Plumlee |
| Mike Muscala |
| John Collins |
When you remove their free agents and players on non-guaranteed deals, you can see the positions they might need to address.
| Atlanta |
| Dennis Schroder |
| Malcolm Delaney |
| Kent Bazemore |
| DeAndre’ Bembry |
| Marco Belinelli |
| Taurean Prince |
| John Collins |
| Miles Plumlee |
As the video above mentioned, if the Hawks keep the cap holds of Millsap and Hardaway Jr. on the books, Atlanta would only have about $1.0 million in cap space and a $4.3 million mid-level exception to add free agents barring a trade.
On the flipside, if the Hawks allowed Millsap and Hardaway Jr. to walk in free agency, they could have close to $34.1 million in cap space and their $4.3 million mid-level exception.
The answer to which way the Hawks’ future is headed should start showing itself in the first few days of July.
Financial information from BasketballInsiders.com.
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