The Atlanta Hawks are currently gearing up for the 2025 NBA season, in which they will look to avoid the play-in tournament for the first time in four years. Atlanta has made some high profile moves this offseason, including trading for Kristaps Porzingis and signing Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard in free agency.

On Wednesday, the Hawks announced its slate of games for the NBA Cup tournament, which takes place in October into November. Opponents include the Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers, and Washington Wizards.

As they've been known to do, Atlanta's social media team had a little fun with the announcement on X, formerly Twitter, taking lighthearted jabs at each opposing city, including referencing Drake for Toronto and noting the lack of things to do in Cleveland, among others.

It was another example of the Hawks' social media department not being afraid to do a little bit of trolling from time to time.

Can the Hawks compete?

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Hawks have spent this offseason building a roster that they hope will be able to maximize star point guard Trae Young's strengths and minimize his weaknesses.

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By bringing in Porzingis at the Boston Celtics' trade firesale, the Hawks brought in an elite rim protector and far and away the best shooting big men of Young's career (and one of the best in the NBA overall).

Alexander-Walker will provide Atlanta with another three-and-D wing who can provide elite perimeter defense alongside Dyson Daniels, while Kennard has been one of the elite three point shooters in the league throghout his career.

This, combined with projected ascension from Daniels, Jalen Johnson, and Zaccharie Risacher, combined with the current injury-riddled state of the Eastern Conference, could be enough to vault Atlanta back into the upper echelon of East teams for the first time since 2021, when they made a shocking run to the Eastern Conference Finals.

While the team still appears to be far apart from Young in terms of a potential contract extension, that doesn't appear to factor in too heavily to the Hawks' immediate future.

The Hawks' full schedule is slated to be announced later on this week.

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