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On Monday evening, the Atlanta Hawks made two free agency splashes by signing guards Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard, each of whom figures to provide Atlanta with some much-needed bench depth. It was just the latest in a frenzy of moves the Hawks have made this offseason to try to bolster themselves into contention in a suddenly wide-open Eastern Conference landscape.
On Tuesday morning, Kennard took to his Instagram story with an adorable picture of his son, along with the caption “Go Hawks!”
Kennard is the current career leader in three-point shooting percentage among active players at over 43%, and will help shore up that area of the Hawks' bench after the team lost shooters like Georges Niang and Caris LeVert earlier this summer.
Kennard's defensive limitations mean it might be hard for head coach Quinn Snyder to find many minutes to play alongside Trae Young, but he will provide some significant floor-spacing during the non-Trae minutes to help put pressure on opposing defenses.
A big summer for the Hawks
It was just over a year ago that the Hawks appeared to have one of the bleakest future outlooks of any team in the NBA thanks to the fact that they didn't own many of their future draft picks due to the disastrous Dejounte Murray trade.
However, fast forward to 2025, and the Hawks now have an impressive stable of young rising players like Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, and Zaccharie Risacher, along with established veterans like Kristaps Porzingis who can help the team win now, especially considering how wide open the Eastern Conference currently is.
The architect behind these moves has been newly signed general manager Onsi Saleh, who has quickly earned the trust of Hawks fans with a series of savvy moves to open up this offseason.
On paper, the 2025-26 Hawks will be the ideal roster of players with which to surround Young, able to cover for his shortcomings on defense and space the floor to give him maximum space to operate on offense.
Of course, the game isn't played on paper, but Hawks fans have as much reason to be excited right now as they have in a very long time.
