Timberwolves Free Agency: Atlanta Hawks Edition

As we wind through the playoff teams that were eliminated in the NBA’s first round and evaluate potential fits with the Timberwolves, we land on the curious case of the Atlanta Hawks.

The Hawks have made the playoffs in 10 straight seasons, including the last four under current head coach Mike Budenholzer. In four of the last six years, however, Atlanta has lost in the first round of postseason play.

After squeaking into the playoffs with a 38-44 record in the putrid Eastern Conference in Budenholzer’s first year back in 2013-14, the Hawks made it all the way to the conference finals the following year after winning 60 games in the regular season before being swept by the Cavaliers in LeBron James‘ first year back in Cleveland.

Since then, the team won 48 games in 2015-16 and just 43 games this season, although it was still good enough to land the fifth-seed in the East prior to being eliminated by Washington in six first round games.

The Hawks’ best players are a pair of 31 year-olds in Paul Millsap and Dwight Howard. Millsap has a player option for next season but has all but assured the organization that he’ll be opting out. Howard has two more years on his deal but always seems to be a trade candidate, although his salary of more than $23 million annually is a large chunk of change to find a match for in a trade.

Atlanta has five role players that will hit unrestricted free agency this off-season, and Kent Bazemore and Dennis Schroder are the only key players under contract for the foreseeable future. It should be an intriguing summer in Hotlanta, so let’s take an early look at which guys will be hitting the open market.