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The Hawks are in that weird NBA purgatory where no team wants to be. After making the Conference Finals just two seasons ago, they've failed to get near repeating that effort since, just sneaking into the playoffs through the play-in tournament two seasons in a row, only to be beaten relatively comfortably in the first round.
Their first season pairing backcourt combo of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray didn't yield quite as much success as hoped, but they're still a talented duo capable of more. Add the continually improving Deandre Hunter to the mix, as well as the recently extended Bogdan Bogdanovic, and it's clear that all is certainly not lost in Atlanta.
But the one area of their roster which is perhaps the most intriguing is the battle for the center position. For a long time, that spot has been in the vice-like grip of Clint Capela, and he will no doubt start with it once again this season. But a 22-year-old, former number six draft pick is breathing down his neck.
Why Onyeka Okongwu can have a breakout 2023-24 season
Life in the NBA has been a little unusual for Onyeka Okongwu so far. After being selected with the sixth pick in the 2020 draft he could have reasonably expected to be given a reasonably good shot at things on his new team, but with Capela in Atlanta and the two unable to really share the floor for any extended period of time, he hasn't quite got the minutes he really need to truly show his stuff.
But after just 12.0 minutes per game in his first season, he managed 20.7 in his second and a career-high 23.1 last season, and while that hasn't been enough time to really stamp his authority on the NBA, he has certainly provided plenty of glimpses of why he was so highly fancied on draft night.
Okongwu is undersized and can't shoot – a little like Capela, though even shorter – hence why a double-center combination between the two isn't exactly high on the agenda for the Hawks. But when he's on the floor, he's mighty efficient and is capable of belying his comparatively short 6'8″ frame by competing ably with far bigger opponents.
So what to make of the year ahead for Okongwu? Once again, he will start the season behind Capela, and it's hard to see him getting too much more than the 23.1 minutes per game he averaged last season. But Capela, for all of his admirable qualities as a player, is 29 and isn't exactly getting better. The Hawks know what they're going to get from him; they don't from Okongwu.
As the season progresses, there is every chance that if Okongwu develops the way he has demonstrated himself capable he will increasingly take more and more minutes off his veteran counterpart. What's more, if he does show that improvement to the point where he is worthy of a starting position, the Hawks will very likely look to move Capela to a team on which he will be of a little more use.
They may well look to do that anyway. Capela has been a frequent name in trade conversations for months based largely on the fact that his absence would free up Okongwu to play more minutes, and it's very possible that continues during the season.
Onyeka Okongwu might not have been given the opportunity to really show his wares at the NBA level, but he has increasingly shown impressive signs which suggest that the number six pick with which he was taken might not have been so crazy. With the potential for him to move past Capela this season, or even better (from his perspective), for Capela to move elsewhere, 2023-24 could be a breakout season for Okongwu.
