With the NBA season just two months away, fans and analysts are buzzing with predictions for the 2024-25 campaign.
Hawks’ Summer Moves
This summer, the Hawks made a tough call by trading Dejounte Murray. They decided to focus on building around Trae Young. In return, they got Larry Nance and Dyson Daniels from New Orleans and picked Zaccharie Risacher as their No. 1 draft pick.
Expert Opinions on Hawks’ Future
Despite these changes, some experts doubt that Atlanta will turn things around. Grant Hughes from Bleacher Report thinks the Hawks won’t make it to the playoffs this year.
Reed Sheppard (@reed_sheppard) working out with Atlanta Hawks all-star Trae Young.
โReed is gonna be a hell of an NBA playerโ โ@TheTraeYoung
โ Lee K. Howard (@HowardWKYT)
Grant Hughes wrote that while Atlanta might do better than teams like the Bulls, they still face stiff competition from other Eastern Conference teams.
The Competition in the East
Hughes explained that teams like Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and Boston Celtics all seem stronger than last year. These eight teams each had at least ten more wins than Atlanta last season.
Fans believe in surprises; sometimes predictions can be wrong!
Maybe Atlanta can surprise everyone by balancing their roster after trading Murray for Daniels and Nance. And perhaps Trae Young will have an All-NBA season now that he’s back to being the main playmaker.
Efforts to Improve Defense
The Hawks have tried hard to fix their weaknesses from last season and improve their defense. Even so, Hughes thinks other Eastern Conference teams are still stronger due to longer-term stability.
โIf they can’t keep up with those top eight teams,โ he said, โthey might consider future trades involving players like Clint Capela or DeโAndre Hunter.โ
Even though they’ve added bigger players and improved defensively , Hughes believes stronger Eastern Conference teams could push them out of Play-In contention altogether.
