The Hawks are shipping Kobe Bufkin to Brooklyn in a cash deal that gives Atlanta some financial breathing room.
Atlanta is sending their young guard to the Nets in exchange for $110,000 and will create a $5.4 million trade exception in the process, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Monday.
The move gives the Hawks much-needed roster flexibility. They now have just 10 players on fully guaranteed contracts.
Atlanta’s remaining roster includes Vit Krejci and N’Faly Dante on partial guarantees, while Mouhamed Gueye is working with a non-guaranteed deal. Caleb Houstan, Kobe Johnson, and Charles Bassey round out the group on Exhibit 10 contracts.
Brooklyn gains a young prospect while still maintaining $11.6 million in cap space after the trade.
The Nets are pretty loaded right now with 15 players already on guaranteed deals, plus four more with partial or non-guaranteed contracts.
Bufkin is set to make $5.4 million this season, with a team option worth $6.9 million for 2026-27. It’s part of his four-year, $19.8 million rookie contract signed last July.
Brooklyn has until Halloween to decide whether to pick up that option.
Bufkin’s Struggle to Find His Footing
The 15th overall pick in the 2023 draft hasn’t quite lived up to expectations so far.
Bufkin, who turns 22 this Sunday, has barely seen the court in his short NBA career, appearing in just 27 games across two seasons with the Hawks.
His numbers tell the story: 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in limited minutes (11.9 per game). His shooting has been a real problem – just 37.4% overall and a tough 22% from beyond the arc.
As a rookie, he played only seven games.
Last season wasn’t much better, with just 10 appearances before undergoing season-ending surgery in December.
The Michigan product did show flashes of his potential in the G League, where he averaged 23.6 points across 14 games last season.
If he’d stayed in Atlanta, Bufkin was looking at an uphill battle for minutes behind Dyson Daniel, Luke Kennard, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
The move to Brooklyn might actually be good news for his development. With the Nets still rebuilding, he should get more consistent playing time to prove himself this season.
Meanwhile, the Hawks are gearing up to host the Toronto Raptors on October 22 for their regular season opener.
