The Atlanta Hawks were among the teams that made a splash during the first days of the 2022 offseason acquiring Dejounte Murray from the Spurs to add another All-Star level player alongside Trae Young.
At the same time, the move head started a talk around John Collins and his future with the team. In a recent interview with NBA.com, Landry Fields —the Hawks’ general manager—said Collins is an integral part of what the franchise want to do.
“If you’re building a roster with any team and you’re looking at how you can get better, teams often think this way: ‘Well, the Hawks have a really good player that makes a certain amount of dollars that works for what we’re trying to do,’” Fields said.
“So, there are a bunch of concepts they’re going to throw our way and say, ‘What do you think of John?’ The truth of the matter is that John Collins is still on the Hawks. We still have value in him, too. This isn’t one of those, ‘We have to get off of John.’ That’s absurd.”
Collins’ name has been constantly involved in trade talks the last few months. The rumors were flared up by the notion Collins wasn’t used right and the offense was going through mostly Trae Young.
Per NBA stats, Young to Collins was 54 percent from the field. It seemed like the two players got along, as they became the main factors to lead the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021.
Several teams were interested in acquiring the Wake Forest product, but obviously, Atlanta did not find a deal that could improve the team so far. Fields admitted the Hawks fielded some calls for the dynamic big man.
“You always think of the player from that standpoint because he is constantly in talks. You try to make sure with him that we check in and make sure he’s doing all right. It’s something where it’s less about wondering if he’s the long-term fit and it’s more about the fact that he gets called on a lot,” Fields noted.
Comments