The Atlanta Hawks have had a rollercoaster season. They were believed to be a promising team in an Eastern Conference besieged by injuries to key stars on contenders around the conference. Plus, their 2025 offseason moves made by general manager Onsi Saleh had fans and prognosticators alike interested in what the Hawks could become in this wide-open Eastern Conference. But injuries and unfortunate trades caused the Hawks to experience a downturn, with fans clamoring for the 2026 offseason, and the value of the Pelicans/Bucks pick swap is highly anticipated.
But it appears as if the Hawks have turned the corner. As of this writing, they are on a seven-game win streak and are 8-2 in the past 10 games. They are only three games back from the Miami Heat, who currently sit in the six-seed in the playoff standings, with Toronto and Philadelphia only ahead of them by one and two games, respectively.
The ideal seeding situation for the Hawks is to get the number six seed. It’s realistic, and they’ve been on a roll since the end of the All-Star break. Getting in that number six spot puts them out of the play-in for the first time in months. Since making the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, the Hawks have been a mainstay in the play-in over the past few seasons, but they failed to make the playoffs last season after losing to the Miami Heat.
It would be a massive accomplishment for the Hawks to secure the six-seed and put them in position to possibly pull off an upset in the first round, further gaining the fans' support for the direction of the team. Hawks Nation was gutted by the trade of Trae Young. But a season ahead of schedule could help mend the broken hearts of fans
If the season were to end today and the Hawks found a way to unseat the Miami Heat as the number six seed in the Eastern Conference, they would face the New York Knicks. The Knicks have been a consistent team this season, even winning the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup. But out of the top six current teams, they arguably have the biggest weaknesses that the Hawks can exploit for a huge playoff-series victory.
While Karl-Anthony Towns is a phenomenal player, he is often inconsistent. With how wing-heavy the Hawks are, I believe that they can match up with the Knicks well in a seven-game series. And while Trae Young, who grew his star after the Hawks' five-game defeat of the Knicks in the 2021 playoffs, is no longer with the team, Jalen Johnson could prove to be a thorn in the Knicks' side. Johnson's penchant for driving to the basket and his explosiveness could cause fits for the small-ball lineups that Mike Brown likes to employ, and I think that there isn't a defender on the Knicks outside of OG Anunoby that can truly keep up with him one-on-one.
Should the Hawks find a way to beat the Knicks in the first round in this scenario, they then match up against the Boston Celtics. Now, the Hawks have seen the Celtics in the playoffs before, ultimately losing 4-2 in 2023. Thus far, the Hawks have split the season series with the Celtics after the Celtics blew them out 132-106 on January 17 and the Hawks exacted their revenge on January 28, 117-106. Now that the Hawks are rounding into form, the two late-March matchups between the Hawks and the Celtics could preview how the teams would match up in the playoffs.
Jayson Tatum is back in the lineup, but he still isn't fully 100%. While the Celtics were smart to get him back in the rotation before the playoff grind, it’s unknown if he’ll truly be back to his style of play pre-Achilles anytime soon. While Jaylen Brown has emerged as a phenomenal player and is very much so in the running for the NBA MVP, the Hawks can certainly match the Celtics' superior three-point shooting ability with a mix of savvy defense and athleticism. While they likely wouldn't win the series against the Celtics, contending well against them could bode well for Quin Snyder and Atlanta, giving them the building blocks for more success leading into a pivotal offseason.
The Hawks are certainly not championship contenders, but they have a chance to secure a small victory that could help them reign among the top teams in the NBA in the next few seasons. But this scenario is contingent upon the Hawks making their way out of the play-in picture and officially securing one of the top six seeds in the East for the first time in five years.
