The Hawks’ signing of Mike Muscala likely will come Thursday after the recent completion of a buyout of his Spanish League contract.
The center, a second-round draft pick, traveled to Atlanta on Tuesday after the agreement was reached with Blusens Monbus Obradoiro of the ACB League. Details of a contract with the Hawks needed to be finalized before he could officially join the team.
Muscala was not in Boston for Wednesday’s game against the Celtics.
The Hawks will not comment on the signing until it becomes official. Obradoiro acknowledged Tuesday that a buyout agreement had been reached with the Hawks.
The 7-footer signed with Obradoiro last summer to continue his development. He had a strong season and led the ACB League in rebounding (7.8) and was seventh in scoring (14.6).
Muscala was acquired by the Hawks with the 44th pick, via a trade with the Mavericks, in the 2013 draft. The Hawks continued to hold his NBA rights as he signed to play in Spain.
The Hawks signed Dexter Pittman to a 10-day contract Saturday. A current player would have to be released to open a roster spot for Muscala.
Red marks: Kyle Korver had red X's on both hands and both shoes for Wednesday's game in support of the "End It" movement. The movement is aimed at raising awareness of world-wide slavery.
“Right now in the world there are 27 million people who live as slaves,” Korver said. “That is like three New York Cities are slaves in the world today. Obviously, they don’t have a voice, so there is a movement going on Thursday. We are encouraging everyone to put red X’s on their hands or their shoes and when someone asks what it means, tell them there are 27 million slaves in the world today.”
According to the movement’s website, there are men, women and children enslaved in factories, brothels, private homes and fields under the control of others using them for financial gain. Korver encouraged those interested to go to enditmovement.com for more information. Korver said he got involved through his Atlanta church, one of the originators of the national movement.
Korver for 4? There were reports this week that the NBA has talked about expanding the court and installing a 4-point line. Such a move is not in serious consideration, but Korver, who went into Wednesday with an NBA-record streak of 125 games with a 3-pointer, is intrigued by the notion.
“I’ll shoot ’em,” Korver said. “I don’t know what it would look like. … I’m sure there are enough guys who could do it fairly well. I think there would be a whole lot more who would shoot a lot of bad shots. Like anything, you train for them, to practice them, you get better at them.”
Injury report: The Hawks were without Paul Millsap (bruised right knee), Pero Antic (right ankle stress fracture) and Gustavo Ayon (right shoulder) for Wednesday's game. None of the injured traveled with the team. Their status for Sunday's game at the Suns has not been determined.
