I regret to inform you, Spurs fans, that the Atlanta Hawks are having another great offseason. After trading Dejounte Murray for Dyson Daniels and drafting Zaccharie Risacher last year, they made a killer draft-day trade, acquired Kristaps Porzingis, and signed Nikeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard this summer. And they might still not be done.
The fate of a traditionally middling Eastern Conference team wouldn’t normally concern the Spurs, but the original Dejounte Murray trade linked the two franchises. San Antonio already got the 14th pick in this year’s draft, Carter Bryant, as a result of it. Next year, the Silver and Black have swap rights to the Hawks’ first-rounder, and in 2027 they will receive the last first Atlanta owes. Naturally, the worse their former trade partner does, the more beneficial it is for the Spurs, since the value of those picks is tied to the record the Hawks end up with. As mentioned, this year they got the 14th pick. No one will complain about getting another bite of the draft apple, but it wasn’t a particularly great asset. And the upcoming ones should be worse.
Part of the Hawks’ projected success has little to do with them. The East is bad. It’s the reason why the 2025 pick landed as low as it did despite a lackluster Hawks year, and it could have landed lower had Atlanta won the play-in game. Next season, the conference is wide open, so even a reasonably talented roster could make the postseason, which would take away the main value of a pick: its ability to land in the lottery and turn into a top-4 selection. The 14th pick this year had a chance, albeit a small one, to turn into the Cooper Flagg. It didn't, but the Mavericks, which won just one fewer game than the Hawks, actually landed the top pick. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to see the swap from next year being in the lottery.
It’s not just the East that is the issue. The Hawks deserve plenty of credit for pivoting so successfully from the disastrous original Murray trade. They got lucky in the lottery and picked up Risacher, a modern wing who might not have star upside but should be a rotation player for years to come. In that same summer, Atlanta got runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year, Dyson Daniels, for Murray. They weren’t a great team, but they managed to survive a season-ending injury to start-in-he-making Jalen Johnson while remaining in play-in territory. Then the front office traded De’Andre Hunter for Caris LeVert's big expiring contract, Georges Niang, and draft compensation, and they moved Bogdan Bogdanovic for Terance Mann and Bones Hyland, attaching picks to do so. Initially, the moves seemed questionable, but in retrospect, the cap flexibility they created helped massively this offseason.
The front office was aggressive. Niang, Mann, and one of their two 2025 firsts turned into Porzingis. Letting LeVert walk allowed the Hawks to use the massive trade exception they got in the John Collins salary dump to get Alexander-Walker while keeping the mid-level exception, which they used on Luke Kennard. They also picked up Asa Newell after trading down with the Pelicans on a deal that got them swap rights with the Pelicans or Bucks in 2026, a pick that could become valuable if Giannis Antetokounmpo decides to demand a trade or New Orleans struggles.
This year, Quin Snyder could use a rotation of Young, NAW, Daniels, Johnson, Porzingis, Kennard, Risacher, and Onyeka Okongwu. He could mix and match, going big or small. There are a couple of interesting players outside of that rotation, too. That’s a playoff team. Thinking past next season, assuming Young doesn’t opt out and leave, the Hawks should be able to retain their key free agents, keep their young core together, and potentially make other big moves, since they are not close to tax and apron territories. They are set up for success in the short and medium term.
Anything can happen in the NBA. Maybe injuries or poor chemistry will decimate the Hawks, and the Spurs will get to jump into the lottery with the 2026 swap. The 2027 pick has value, no matter where it lands. In the end, the Murray trade was a success for San Antonio in terms of process, even if the results are not as exciting as previously expected.
If there are any lessons to learn from the Hawks' turnaround and how it affects San Antonio is that a team can only count on what it can control. If the Spurs’ path back to contention relied solely on Atlanta being terrible, things would look grim. Fortunately, those picks only play a part in a more flexible and comprehensive plan crafted by a smart and forward-thinking front office.