It’s impossible to overstate how underwhelming the Hawks have been. Since trading three first-round picks for Dejounte Murray in a go-for-broke move, they’re 77-87. Since landing coach Quin Snyder and handing him a five-year contract, they’re 46-57.
Over three regular seasons since the run to the 2021 Eastern Conference finals, the Hawks have gone 43-39, 41-41 and now 36-46. (See a trend? So do I.) They just finished with the NBA’s 21st-best record but, due to the weakness of the NBA East and the existence of a play-in tournament, they awoke Wednesday with a game to play.
Steve Spurrier once dismissed Tennessee by saying, “You can’t spell ‘Citrus Bowl’ without ‘U-T.’ " There’s no “p” in “Atlanta Hawks,” but something similar applies. Only two teams have landed in the play-in three years running. One is the Pelicans. The other is the Hawks, who haven’t lost in these not-quite playoffs. Two things the Hawks do well: give up points and win play-in games.
Should the Hawks survive the PIT, they’ll face the top-seeded Celtics, who won 28 more games but managed to lose twice in four nights at State Farm Arena last month. The Hawks were minus Trae Young in those games. They head into the play-in with Young but without Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu and Saddiq Bey. It’s hard to like their chances – we say again: 36-46 – but even a last chance is still a chance.
Big-picture-wise, the Hawks might be better served to lose in the PIT and thereby land in the draft lottery. Should the Kings beat the Pelicans on Friday – note: Zion Williamson left Tuesday’s play-in game with an injury – the Hawks would, via the Kevin Huerter trade, receive Sacramento’s first pick. For a team that sent its Round 1 picks in 2025 and 2027 to San Antonio for Murray, every little bit could help.
As is, the Hawks seem to be going nowhere fast. For whatever reason, the Young-Murray pairing has failed to launch. Each is working on a hefty contract – Murray’s bears less heft – through 2027. (Young has an early termination option in 2026, but he’d be opting out of $48.9 million.) This team has too many gifted players to consider tanking, though we’re compelled to ask: Why isn’t a team with such gifts any good?
These Hawks were 14-14 without Young. That’s not great, but it beats their record – 22-32 – with him. If nothing else, they at least tried to guard somebody on nights their All-Star was unavailable. They came close to dealing Murray before the February trade deadline. They’ll be tempted to shop Young this offseason – if they’re not, they haven’t been paying attention – though it’s unclear what return they could reap.
As it stands, it appears the Hawks must change something. The 2021 surge is a faded memory. There has been no consolidation of apparent gains. The rebuild under Travis Schlenk worked until it stopped working. Now he’s gone, and so are Nate McMillan and Huerter and John Collins. What’s left? The NBA’s biggest mystery.
Over the fullness of a regular season, the Hawks were the league’s most disappointing team. The PIT offers a chance to make partial reparations, and a play-in participant did grace the 2023 finals. That team was the Miami of Erik Spoelstra and Playoff Jimmy Butler. Lest we forget, the Heat’s epic journey began with an 11-point home loss to … the Hawks.
Maybe these Hawks can work a similar series of wonders, though we stipulate that last season’s Heat entered the postseason at 44-38, not 36-46. Maybe Young and Murray will seize this moment to co-exist in a way they haven’t yet. Maybe this was all part of Snyder’s grand plan. Maybe, I said.
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