The Hawks Built The PERFECT Team Around Trae Young

The Hawks Built The PERFECT Team Around Trae Young

In 2025, the Atlanta Hawks failed to make the NBA playoffs after a planned loss to the Orlando Magic where Trey Young got ceremoniously ejected and in an overtime thriller loss against the Miami Heat in a win and scenario. However, despite that setback, there was a lot to love about the Hawks, and their strong off season only solidifies them as a strong competitor in the wide openen Eastern Conference. With incredible defensive versatility around Trey that we haven’t seen since he was drafted, big sack can roll, pop, and protect the rim, and a younger crop of players with incredible ceilings. The Hawks have built the best team surrounding Trey and as a result have a very bright future. To start off, we need to talk about their newest price signing in Nquille Alexander Walker. As a 3 and wing who can be a great point of attack defender, hit threes at a high clip on good volume, and prove his value in the NBA playoffs. Alexander Walker is pretty much a dream fit for the Hawks and someone they’ve been missing for quite some time. With a 6-9 wingspan and great smarts on the defensive end, Alexander Walker is an excellent screen navigator and isolation defender and someone with good anticipation, great ball skills, and activity on the floor. This is a player who can break up passing lanes, deny entry passes to bigs, always seems to know when the ball is most vulnerable by the ball handler by making timely swipes on the ball, does a great job of staying in front of his man, and can operate as a good help defender. On top of his defense, he’s such an adaptable piece for the Hawks because of his outside shooting as he’s hit 39% of his threes over the last two regular seasons. As someone more than willing to operate as a catch-and-oot threat, he shot 43% on catch and shoot threes last regular season and is someone who’s capable of putting the ball on the floor and is a pretty underrated passer. The next major move for the Atlanta Hawks was trading for sensor Chris Tops Porzingis, who’s by far the most offensively gifted five that Trey Young has played beside. Injuries and illness compromise his time on the floor for the Celtics over the last two seasons, but when he’s healthy, he’s still one of the most productive and impactful bigs around. First of all, Porzingis is a great outside shooter at the five. A trait that made him a highly touted prospect of the 2015 NBA draft and something that has rung true across his NBA career. Over the last two seasons, KB shot 39% from three on 5.5 attempts a game, making defenses pay on catch and shoot and drive and kick opportunities as someone who shot 43% on 5.6 catch and shoot attempts a game this past season. He’s consequently valuable in the pick and pop game to stretch out the defense. He has incredible range, has an incredibly hard to contest shot given his immense size, and his shooting ability creates more space for his teammates to operate. What also makes KP’s floor spacing ability so special is the fact that he punishes defenses on closeouts. KP has also been statistically one of the best post scorers in the league with his ability to hit turnaround jumpers over defenders and he is also a quality rim protector and help defender. The problem for KP again is his availability or lack thereof. But this is the last year of his deal, meaning this isn’t a long-term commitment from the Hawks and a healthy KP is a massive contributor. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to leave a like on the video and also sub for more content like this. If you think that those two additions are great for the Hawks, we do hear about the three young stars who will be instrumental to the Hawk success next season. The first one of those three is the great barrier thief, Dyson Daniels. Daniel’s last season went from a nice young piece who could bring on the floor defensively for the Pelicans to winning the NBA’s most improved player war and being a legit star with the Hawks. Daniels was by far and wide the NBA steals leader at three steals a game and had a total of 229 steals last season, the most steals in a single season since Gary Peyton in the 1996 NBA season where he won defense player of the year. Daniels was second in defense player of the year voting with not only just three steals a game, but also leading the league in deflections at 5.9 a game and having the longest streak of games with at least 15 plus points and five plus steals since Michael Jordan. At 67 with a 610 wingspan, he’s good positionally with great length, anticipation, agility, and overall activity that guides him to having the deflections, steals, even blocks he masses in large numbers. A lot of these opportunities are leading to transition opportunities for himself and the Hawks as a whole. Offensively, he has demonstrated that he can put the ball on the floor, beat his man off the dribble, attack the rim with an ability to absorb and finish through contact and has the vision to find teammates in the pick and roll and find them moving off the ball. The next step for him is to improve in terms of his aggression ability and make further improvements as an outside shooter. But based off the jump he took this past season and the fact that he’s just 22 years of age, I’m confident he can improve on this front. Jaylen Johnson is a player the Hawks greatly missed for the bulk of last season due to injury, but he’s one of the more gifted wings in the NBA. He’s an athletic, versatile 6-9 forward who plays very well above the rim, is a skilled passer for someone of his size, crashes the glass, and can start the break, and uses his length to present problems defensively. Just like Daniels, he is comfortable with the ball in his hands with a tendency to attack the rim, does finish well at the rim as someone who is utilized as a role man and runs the floor exceptionally well as a threat in transition. Johnson is also a quality passer, averaging a career best five assists this past season, making the extra pass, having a natural feel for the game in his ability to make passes off of drives, being able to thread the needle in transition, and being a competent passer in the pick and roll while also being comfortable in starting the break for the Hawks. He has great size and length to be impactful on both ends, is only 23 years of age, and will be integral for the Hawk success. The last of these three is Zachary Reese, a player who turned it up during the back end of the season and is one of the most disrespected number one picks of all time. I seriously mean that. While there were worries about his creation ability heading into the league and him struggling to find consistency near the beginning of the season, Rishi made an impact by being an incredible offball threat, being a great crowder, and relocating well across the perimeter. He shot 39% from three on five attempts a game in the last 25 games of the season. Averaged 15 points per game in that span on 51% from the field. He became a more than capable player in attacking the rim, showed off his shotmaking ability, and he also showed his ability to attack closeouts. With the size that Reich has, he can be a playmaker on the defensive end. And even if the stats won’t reflect it next season, I do predict him to be a better overall player by further refining his skills on this team. In the front court, Nyaka Kongu was strongly impressed in his starting role and averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds in the final 25 games of the season. What’s also notable about him is that he shot 2.8 three-point attempts in the final 25 games of the season and hit 39% of them. That’s not crazy volume, but it keeps the defense modest and is exemplary of how he’s developing to the player he was projected to be out of USC as a versatile defensive center who can finish well around the rim and have a solid shooting touch. And of course, Asent Newell further fell in the draft than many expected and has much to work on. But with the length, athleticism, and interior scoring and solid shooting touch that he has, this could suggest that he can be a good interior score and lob threat in the presence while further developing his skills and filling out his frame in the future. With Trey Young in the fold, the Hawks have one of the best point guards in the league who quietly averaged 24 points per game on a career-high 11 point assist a game, a sharpshooter Luke Canard, who they just signed in free agency. And this team probably has the highest ceiling they’ve had in the trailing era on both ends. For years, the Hawks have been routinely one of the teams you didn’t have to take seriously defensively. But with the reinforcements of this off season, this leads me to believe that they’ll be competent on that end while also being a force offensively in a wideopen Eastern Conference. There’s no reason to believe the Hawks won’t be a serious threat. And who knows, they might make the conference finals again like they did all the way back in 2021. With that being said, guys, let me know how you feel about the Atlanta Hawks and the moves that they made this past off season. How highly do you view their young core, Frieza, Jaylen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, and of course, Aston Newell? And where do you feel this team projects to be in 2026? Are they a conference finalist team? Are they a first round out or do you even see them making the NBA finals? Let me know down below. And also, if you love the Atlanta Hawks, check out the video I did on how Trey Young is the most misunderstood all-star in the NBA. Hope to see you all in the next one. Stay tuned.

The Atlanta Hawks are one of the biggest winners of the NBA season. With Kristaps Porzingis and Nickeil Alexander-Walker joining Trae Young and an exceptional young core featuring Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, and Zaccharie Risacher, the Hawks will be very competitive.