It looks as though the NBA is getting serious about adding two teams to their 30-team private club in the near future.<\/p>\n
The reports have focused on Las Vegas and Seattle<\/a> as the likeliest destinations for new teams to bring the NBA to 32 members.<\/p>\n What does that mean for the Atlanta Hawks? Well, during the offseason of the new franchises\u2019 entry to the league, an expansion draft will be held. This means certain players will be at risk of being taken from the roster in a one-way transaction.<\/p>\n That begs the question: which players should the Hawks protect in the event of an expansion draft?<\/p>\n What are the rules of an NBA expansion draft?<\/p>\n For this exercise, we are going to pretend the expansion draft is happening this upcoming offseason and not farther into the future when the teams would actually join the NBA.<\/p>\n Why? Well for one, I have no idea who will be on the roster by then.<\/p>\n And two, we\u2019re just having fun here.<\/p>\n The rules for this section largely comes from the ever-helpful explainer of the NBA\u2019s collective bargaining agreement (CBA)<\/a> written by Larry Coon.<\/p>\n The simplified version is that the two expansion teams will fill out the majority of their rosters by selecting unprotected contracted players from the other 30 rosters. The two teams will alternate picks in a draft format. A maximum of one player from each of the 30 existing teams can be selected, but teams can also negotiate trades with the expansion teams to avoid having a player selected, for example.<\/p>\n Unrestricted free agents can neither be protected by the prior team nor selected by the expansion team(s). That rules out the following four current Atlanta Hawks players:<\/p>\n CJ McCollum (expiring standard contract)Gabe Vincent (expiring standard contract)Jock Landale (expiring standard contract)Caleb Houstan (expiring standard contract)<\/p>\n Anyone else can either be protected or left unprotected, including two-way players (most of which are considered restricted free agents if they\u2019ve been in the league for three or fewer years). The Hawks along with the 29 other existing teams would then protect eight players who cannot be selected, leaving everyone vulnerable to be taken from the roster.<\/p>\n This section is self-explanatory. There are some players that are simply going nowhere given their age, production and contract status. These three are central core members to the future of the Atlanta Hawks.<\/p>\n Jalen JohnsonDyson DanielsNickeil Alexander-Walker<\/p>\n It gets a bit tricky here.<\/p>\n Certainly, you don\u2019t want to lose any players for free, but sometimes teams will leave players unprotected if their contracts outpace their production. So, the expansion draft can be a useful gambit to get an onerous contract off your books \u2014 or simply free up a roster spot.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll go through the remaining 11 players here before deciding which five to add to the core three above as the eight total protected players.<\/p>\n Main remaining rotation players:<\/p>\n The last remaining unmentioned starter, Onyeka Okongwu, has become one of the premier stretch big men in the league. After beginning the season coming off the bench, he has logged 52 starts and ranks in the top 40 in the NBA in minutes to this point.<\/p>\n You can nitpick his true standing on defense among the league\u2019s starting centers, but he just turned 25 and is signed for two more years at $16.5 million per year. Even if his best role is as a backup 4 and 5, his contract and age profile is still very valuable.<\/p>\n