OKC Thunder trade deadline: Hawks options offer depth and future salary relief

Next up in the OKC Thunder trade deadline series T.I. looks at the Atlanta Hawks definitely among the sellers boasting economical assets offering depth.

With the trade deadline less than a week away, Thunderous Intentions is diving into the 29 teams the OKC Thunder face and examining the status of each squad as they arrive at February 7. Are they battling for playoff seeds, looking to rebuild or trying to fill a specific gap to improve their opportunity?

Moreover, who are the key assets on each squad earmarked as the main players the team will consider trading and how could those players improve the OKC Thunder?

With that, let’s look at the Atlanta Hawks with this view in mind.

Trade Category:

The Hawks are definitively in the seller category as they proceed with a full-on rebuild.

Team Situation:

The Hawks are currently seeded 12th in the Eastern Conference with a 17-35 record. Atlanta is in an odd segment of the 30 teams since they aren’t losing enough to be among the four teams currently battling for those coveted bottom three lottery seeds. Nor are they good enough to vie for playoff contention.

That said, Atlanta is in a relatively solid situation with some talented youth already constructing the future core of this rebuilding stage. On top of that, Hawks General Manager, Travis Schlenk enters this draft with the potential of selecting five draft picks, and that’s before any trade deadline action.

Atlanta could have up to three first round picks, (but likely two) and two second round picks. The first round lottery picks come courtesy of deals made with the Mavericks and Cavaliers. The latter is unlikely to be conveyed this season given the protections but the Mavericks first round pick should they land outside the top five would belong to the Hawks.