According to ESPN's Shams Charania, the Boston Celtics have traded Kristaps Porzingis to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team deal involving the Brooklyn Nets. Several players and picks have been moved in this deal that helps get the Celtics under the second apron, which the most recently negotiated CBA punishes teams for reaching.
BREAKING: Boston, Atlanta and Brooklyn are finalizing a three-team trade that sends Kristaps Porzingis and a second-round pick to the Hawks, Terance Mann and Atlanta's No. 22 pick to the Nets, and Georges Niang and a second-rounder to the Celtics. pic.twitter.com/1fcbIslyVF
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 24, 2025
Jake Fischer had reported that San Antonio had "exploratory talks" for the Latvian center, but that didn't amount to anything. Now, he'll affect the Silver and Black in a completely different way. This one won't be as fun.
Spurs own Hawks picks that could lose more value
Spurs Nation is hoping that Atlanta falls off, not improves. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the brutal injuries to Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, and Damian Lillard, plus the uncertainty of whether Joel Embiid will ever make it through a season again, Eastern Conference teams are seeing a wide-open field, and they're going for broke.
Why wouldn't you? If your biggest competition is the Cleveland Cavaliers, who just collapsed in the playoffs, or the New York Knicks, who only play a seven-man rotation, you should strike while you have the chance. That's what the Hawks did. If their plan works out, the 2026 first-round pick swap and 2027 unprotected first-round pick won't hold as much value as they'll have a higher seed, meaning a lower draft position.
The Hawks add a unicorn to the roster to play alongside Trae Young. They'll surely run a ton of pick-and-roll/pops together to drive their opponents crazy. Offensively, they'll be dynamic. KP loves to shoot the three, and he shoots it well. The 7'2" big man shot 41% from deep last season.
His presence on the floor will pull defenders further out because not only does he shoot a lot of threes with great efficiency, but he also shoots a good portion of them from deep. Porzingis shot 250 three-pointers in the recent campaign he played 42 games in. 32 of them were from 30-34 feet, and he made them at a 37% rate, so you have to guard that.
Ice Trae also loves to shoot the deep three. This team is looking to open the floor up. They'll be shooting threes and running the break like crazy with the youth and athleticism on that roster.
Good thing the Spurs are rumored to be aggressively looking to upgrade the team. Maybe they'll move some of those picks before they lose nearly all of their value. The Hawks were already better than we thought they'd be; if Porzingis can stay healthy (a big if) and if Jalen Johnson comes back healthy, they only stand to get better.