The Atlanta Hawks’ current season is about to get really interesting with the impending return of Trae Young and the upcoming trade deadline. There’s a real chance we’re talking about this team as a legitimate contender to win the Eastern Conference in a few months.
However, the future is even brighter for the organization thanks to a draft-night trade that netted Atlanta the New Orleans Pelicans’ unprotected 2026 first-round pick. The Pelicans currently hold the second-worst record in the NBA, which would give the Hawks a 14% chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s draft.
There’s an important caveat, though. The selection Atlanta owns is actually the most favorable of New Orleans and Milwaukee. When you combine those two outcomes, the Hawks currently have a 16% chance of picking first overall and a 61.5% chance of landing a top-four pick. Those odds could improve even further if the Bucks decide to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo prior to the deadline.
That’s a massive asset in an upcoming NBA Draft that analysts are already calling “historic.”
“The team with the worst record is guaranteed a top-five pick,” Kevin O’Connor writes for Yahoo! Sports. “The second-worst record is guaranteed a top-six pick. The third-worst record is guaranteed a top-seven pick. And right now, the Wizards, Pacers, and Nets are winning that race, each with 1-10 records. Finishing with the fifth, sixth or seventh pick might seem unappealing in most draft classes. But this 2026 draft class is quite different. It could be historic.
“All the attention is on Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, BYU wing AJ Dybantsa and Duke power forward Cam Boozer, but this draft class is about more than them. Players like North Carolina power forward Caleb Wilson, Tennessee wing Nate Ament and Louisville guard Mikel Brown could push for the top 3. Meaning, there are at least six players who a team would happily draft with a top-two or -three pick in almost any other year. It is undoubtedly the best class since the NBA flattened the odds in 2019 to actually lose on lottery night.”
Adding onto O’Connor’s words, ESPN college basketball analyst Joe Lunardi compared the decision between A.J. Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer to choosing between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
The Hawks are in a rare position where they can legitimately make a deep playoff run and then turn around and select a franchise-altering talent at the top of next year’s draft. If a little bit of luck breaks their way and the right decisions are made, Atlanta could be competing for NBA championships for the foreseeable future, something that hasn’t been said about the Hawks since they moved to the South.
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Photo: Aaron Baker/Icon Sportswire
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