Atlanta Hawks center Kristaps Porzingis revealed he was pleasantly surprised when he found out he had been traded to the Hawks and not the San Antonio Spurs. He sees Atlanta as a team that's on the cusp of competing for a championship and feels he could be the missing piece to push them over the edge. Watching Porzingis compete for Latvia in EuroBasket 2025 was encouraging for fans, as Kristaps missed most of the 2024-25 campaign.
However, scouts in attendance for Latvia men's basketball team's EuroBasket games were underwhelmed by Porzingis' overall performance, ESPN's Brian Windhorst said, per The Hoop Collective.
“The Latvians got eliminated in this round. Kristaps Porzingis had a 34-point, 19-rebound game in the round of 16, and they got eliminated. So those stats look good,” Windhorst said. “He averaged 20 points a game and six rebounds in this series, or in the tournament. However, the scouts were not blown away by the way he looked. They felt he looked not the sort of impact player they were used to seeing.
“And he admitted that while he feels better than he did in the spring, he’s still got a ways to go. That he’s not back to the full health that he was at,” Windhorst concluded.
Perhaps getting the rust off is part of Porzingis' progression toward returning to form. He's looking forward to his tenure with the Hawks, as Porzingis believes it's an ideal situation for him to compete at a high level, he said, per Basketball Sphere's Dejan Gajic.
“I think expectations are high. Atlanta’s been on the edge of the playoffs the last few years, sometimes getting through the first round,” Porzingis said. “It’s a great situation for me to come in and contribute. Maybe even better than Boston, where it was championship or bust.”
Trae Young sees title aspirations for 2025-26 Hawks
All-Star Trae Young believes the 2025-26 Hawks can compete for a championship. With Jalen Johnson returning from of a season-ending shoulder surgery and offseason additions such as Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Luke Kennard, and Kristaps Porzingis, Young is heading into his eighth season on a Hawks team with the highest expectations of his career.
“You can look at our roster and look at our team, and you can finally say we’re trying to compete for something,” Young said. “Going into Year 8, you haven’t been able to look at my teams, and been able to say that necessarily. So, I’m very glad that we have a team like that. We’ve added Nickeil [Alexander-Walker], we added Luke [Kennard], and Jalen [Johnson] being back, and obviously, [Kristaps] Porzingis. If we’re healthy, we’ll definitely be up there.”
The Hawks begin their preseason schedule against the Rockets on October 6.
