ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Coming into the 2026-27 NBA season, the Atlanta Hawks look vastly different compared with the same point last year.
Trae Young, former No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher, Kristaps Porzingis and Jonathan Kuminga are gone, and it’s clearly Jalen Johnson’s team, but general manager Onsi Saleh did not stay put over the offseason.
Saleh didn’t make big, flashy moves this offseason. Instead, he aimed for pieces to build around Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Dyson Daniels.
### **Who’s in, who’s out?**
The two biggest departures are star Trae Young and former No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher. Young had been the face of the franchise since entering the league in 2018, and Risacher disappointed compared with his draft position.
Also departing are forward Jonathan Kuminga, guard Buddy Hield, guard Gabe Vincent and centers Christian Koloko and Tony Bradley.
Saleh traded for guards Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins from the Oklahoma City Thunder and forward Dorian Finney-Smith from the Houston Rockets. The Hawks also picked up guard Kingston Flemings, forward Zuby Ejiofor and center Henri Veesaar in the draft. Veesaar won’t play this season after tearing his ACL.
### **Where did the Hawks get better?**
The games are ultimately played on the hardwood, and we won’t know until tipoff, but the stats can tell us about what to expect from the new arrivals.
The easiest stats to look at are offensive rating, defensive rating and plus-minus. The three are fairly simple to understand catchalls for how a team performs when a player is on the floor.
Offensive rating approximates how many points a player generates over 100 possessions through field goals, free throws, assists and offensive rebounds; defensive rating is the other side of the coin, measuring how effective a player is at preventing points; plus-minus is a measure of how much a team outscores — or is outscored by — opponents while a player is on the floor.
The higher the offensive rating, the better and the lower the defensive rating, the better.
Comparing the offseason acquisitions (Dort, Wiggins, Finney-Smith, Flemings and Ejiofor) with the departures (Kuminga, Hield, Vincent, Koloko and Bradley), the Hawks improved in all three categories.
The average offensive rating of the incoming players is 113.06, the defensive rating is 106.02 and the plus-minus is 5.46, compared with 108.67, 115 and -4.48, respectively, for the departures.
The offensive and defensive ratings of the incoming players are buoyed by Flemings and Ejiofor, who played in a quite different environment in college. Removing their numbers, the ratings drop to 105 and 112, a worse offensive rating but a still superior defensive one.
The acquisitions have also helped the Hawks improve in assists and steals, two stats that have become central to the team’s identity under Quin Snyder. Dort, Wiggins, Finney-Smith, Flemings and Ejiofor average 2.04 steals and 5.12 assists per 100 possessions against the departures’ 0.85 and 3.73, respectively.
### **Where did the Hawks get worse?**
Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield are arguably the biggest losses for the Hawks this offseason. Kuminga led departing players in offensive rating and plus-minus, and Hield led departing players in field goal percentage and FG+, a measure of efficiency relative to the NBA. The departing players led the acquisitions in field goal percentage, rebounds and FG+.
Neither Flemings nor Ejiofor is expected to start, but the two rookies could be key to the Hawks pushing past the first round, making a deep playoff run and leading the fan base to forget all about the players that left the team this offseason.
_Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved._