The Atlanta Hawks were a popular pick to make a leap in the 2023-24 season. After pushing the Boston Celtics to six games in the playoffs last season and head coach Quin Snyder entering his first full season with the club, there was plenty of reason for such optimism. But things have not gone to plan so far this season. The Hawks are 14-19 so far this season and hold only a half-a-game lead over the Chicago Bulls for the final spot in the play-in with the NBA trade deadline just about a month away.
That, in turn, has led to plenty of speculation about the Hawks' plans come the trade deadline. They have been a rumored target for Pascal Siakam and for OG Anunoby before the Raptors dealt him to the New York Knicks, but Atlanta's stretch of poor play has put a wrinkle in those plans.
Maybe the Hawks could still buy at the deadline, but it seems more likely they will sell. No one knows for sure, but the Hawks are going to be a team to monitor leading up to Feb. 8. They're a team worth making predictions on what they will do between now and then.
Here are our Hawks early 2024 NBA trade deadline predictions
The Hawks will trade Dejounte Murray
For whatever reason, the Trae Young-Dejounte Murray backcourt just hasn't clicked in Atlanta. Perhaps it is their styles of play, but the Hawks have been wildly mediocre when those two have been on the floor together.
The Hawks have a -2.5 net rating this season when both Young and Murray have shared the floor according to Cleaning the Glass. Last season, that pairing was better when both were on the floor, but not much better. The Hawks posted a +1.6 net rating last season with the two on the floor together. The pairing just has not worked the way the Hawks thought it would when they acquired Murray in the summer of 2022.
Because of that, their record so far this season and Murray's upcoming four-year $114 million extension that kicks in next season, there's a big spotlight on the Hawks and whether or not they would trade Murray. It seems more and more likely that they will.
The Hawks have made Murray ‘widely available‘ according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports. The Hawks could get back some, if not all, of the draft capital they gave up to acquire Murray and could get out of that contract to give them flexibility going forward. With this experiment not working and the reporting backing up Atlanta's motivation for a trade, it seems more likely than not at this point that a Murray trade will happen before the trade deadline.
The Atlanta Hawks will also trade Clint Capela
Part of Fischer's reporting was that everyone but Trae Young and Jalen Johnson has been deemed available by the Hawks. That would include Clint Capela, who the Hawks had trade talks with the Dallas Mavericks at the draft to fortify their center spot before the Mavs decided to draft Dereck Lively II. Trading Capela by default is not some taboo topic for the Hawks and is something they have already thought about.
The reason the Hawks could trade Capela is because they don't need him. Onyeka Okongwu is more than ready for a bigger role and has a more polished offensive skillset than Capela does. Capela is under contract for two more seasons at over $20 million each season. If the Hawks already have a center in place who can fill the starting role for them and they can add financial flexibility and draft capital to their repertoire, they'd be crazy not to trade Capela. It makes sense for the Hawks to look to sell this season and get as much as they can for both Dejounte Murray and Clint Capela.
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