Free agent guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker has agreed to a four-year, $62MM deal with the Hawks, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets. The Hawks will acquire him via a sign-and-trade using the $25MM trade exception generated by last year’s Dejounte Murray trade, according to cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link). This will generate a trade exception for the Timberwolves worth half of Alexander-Walker’s starting salary.
By going the sign-and-trade route, it will allow Atlanta to preserve its non-taxpayer mid-level exception. The Timberwolves are also receiving cash considerations and a future second-rounder. Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic tweets. The pick is the Cavaliers’ 2027 second-rounder, according to Fischer (Twitter link).
The contract includes a player option and trade kicker, according to Charania (Twitter link).
The Hawks were considered the frontrunners to acquire Alexander-Walker after the Timberwolves reached agreements with two of their other prominent players, Naz Reid and Julius Randle. According to insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link), Trae Young was instrumental in recruiting NAW to Atlanta.
Alexander-Walker emerged as one of the biggest names on the free agent market due to his 3-and-D skills. He had a 23-point, 6-assist outing against OKC in the Western Conference Finals.
He appeared in every regular season game this season, including 10 starts, averaging 9.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists. He made 38.1 percent of his 3s and has knocked down 36 percent of them in his career. He now slots in as the Hawks’ sixth man, backing up Dyson Daniels at shooting guard.