No one is surprised that Nickeil Alexander-Walker is succeeding in Atlanta, where he signed a 4-year, $60 million contract in the offseason, which seemed like a steal even if NAW was the exact same kind of player in Atlanta that he was in Minnesota.
But recently, the former Wolves sixth man isn't playing like a sixth man, or any kind of role player at all; he's playing like a star. In March, Alexander-Walker is averaging 24 points per game on 55/51/96 shooting splits. His scorching stretch includes five 20-point games this month alone and a career-high 41 earlier this week, and his season average has ticked over 20 points per game. I wrote in the preseason that NAW could be an elite sixth man with the Hawks — but never saw this volume coming from him, and I'm not sure even the Alexander-Walker family expected this impressive of a campaign.
It's not like this has come out of nowhere; NAW has been awesome all season. But pre-All Star break, the Hawks were a pretty big disappointment, and he got lost in the fray. Now, as the Hawks rattle off win after win, his production has come to the forefront.
Alexander Walker has been given far more responsibilities with Hawks
This isn't fully the fault of the Timberwolves, by the way. He played his role to perfection in Minnesota, and the Wolves never really needed him to be an offensive creator or high-level scorer. With that being said, it still never feels great to watch a player who was very good in his role go elsewhere, get a much bigger role, and still be awesome.
Plus, this version of Nickeil Alexander-Walker would be pretty much perfect on the Timberwolves. But with Naz Reid getting paid, it was never likely that NAW was going to stick around in Minnesota. It's also not likely the team would have traded for Ayo Dosunmu at the deadline, though, so just think of the whole thing as NAW for Naz and Ayo.
Not a bad trade-off, even if Wolves fans are understandably watching him thrive in ATL and asking why the Wolves didn't do everything to keep him. As it stands, Alexander-Walker's $60 million over four years looks like one of the most team-friendly deals in the league which is pro-owner propaganda, but Wolves fans should still cheer for a guy who was great in his time in Minnesota.