{"id":139330,"date":"2025-07-01T14:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T14:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/139330\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T14:14:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T14:14:11","slug":"hawks-dealt-major-news-as-nba-free-agency-starts-on-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/139330\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawks Dealt Major News as NBA Free Agency Starts on Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hawks Dealt Major News as NBA Free Agency Starts on Monday<\/a> originally appeared on Athlon Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As NBA free agency gets underway, the Atlanta Hawks have positioned themselves to make a statement, but the key news surfaced only after Monday\u2019s tip\u2011off.<\/p>\n

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In a significant move that emerged in the second wave of deals, free agent Nickeil Alexander\u2011Walker has agreed to a four\u2011year, $62 million contract with the Hawks, including a player option and trade kicker, per ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania.<\/p>\n

The deal arrived via sign\u2011and\u2011trade with Minnesota. The Hawks are sending a 2027 second\u2011round pick (originally from Cleveland) plus cash to secure the wing.<\/p>\n

Alexander\u2011Walker, 26, brings versatility and consistency to Atlanta\u2019s rotation. Last season with the Timberwolves, he averaged 9.4 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 2.7 APG, while shooting 38.1% from three, and started 10 of 82 games.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s known for strong perimeter defense, playing all 82 games for two straight seasons, and improving playmaking, which should benefit Hawks head coach Quin Snyder\u2019s backcourt alongside Trae Young.<\/p>\n

\"Atlanta<\/p>\n

Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder shown during a time out.\u00a9 Dale Zanine-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

This addition preserves the Hawks\u2019 full mid\u2011level exception (about $14.1 million), positioned smartly via their existing trade exception from last year\u2019s Dejounte Murray deal.<\/p>\n

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Financially, Atlanta remains $18.5 million under the luxury tax, keeping flexibility for further roster enhancements.<\/p>\n

The signing follows Atlanta\u2019s aggressive offseason, which already included the Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is trade and a one\u2011year, $11 million deal with sharpshooter Luke Kennard.<\/p>\n

Young played a key role in recruiting both, reportedly reaching out personally to Alexander\u2011Walker to pitch the Hawks\u2019 vision.<\/p>\n

With this move, Atlanta strengthens its wing depth, perimeter defense, and shooting, putting the Hawks among the early movers in the Eastern Conference as free agency officially opened.<\/p>\n

Related: Bucks Look to Land Promising 6-Foot-8 Big Man Over Spurs, 76ers: Report<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jul 1, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hawks Dealt Major News as NBA Free Agency Starts on Monday originally appeared on Athlon Sports. As NBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,7,305,2878,677,1171,307,6,3269,379,5033,2986,567,5291,308,494],"class_list":{"0":"post-139330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-hawks","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-atlantahawks","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-cleveland","13":"tag-dejounte-murray","14":"tag-hawks","15":"tag-luke-kennard","16":"tag-minnesota","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-nba-free-agency","19":"tag-nickeil-alexander-walker","20":"tag-player-option","21":"tag-quin-snyder","22":"tag-shams-charania","23":"tag-the-hawks","24":"tag-timberwolves","25":"tag-trae-young"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114778398071057001","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}