The Hawks finally made moves at this year’s deadline, and Clint Capela is still on the team. They did, however, trade De’Andre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Georges Niang, Caris LeVert, three second-round picks, and two pick swaps.
Since being traded to Atlanta, Niang has had games with 16 points, 21 points, and 27 points, providing some much-needed scoring off the bench. His defense, however, is atrocious. He scored 21 points against the Knicks, but in overtime, it felt like every point scored was against him. He is becoming borderline unplayable and it makes sense why the Cavs moved him, as they gear up for a deep playoff run.
LeVert has been solid for Atlanta. In his last seven games, he has scored 15+ five times and 18+ three times, all while playing above-average defense. Once again, Atlanta needed bench scoring to make up for losing Hunter, so this is great.
Bogdan Bogdanovic was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for Terrance Mann and Bones Hyland. Hyland was waived by Atlanta shortly after. Terrance Mann has been great off the bench as of late. He has scored 15, 13, and 13 in his last three games, while also contributing good defense.
Meanwhile, Bogi has not been close to his usual self. Since dominating the Olympics, he has not been good for the Hawks this year, shooting a Career-low 30% from three. This has also been the case for Clippers Bogi.
Bogdanovic scored 12 points in his last game but on 4/16 (25%) shooting. He has shot above 50% in just three of his eight games with the Clippers. In the rest, he has shot 30%, 30%, 31%, 25%, and 25%. The Hawks getting a contributing player in return is a huge W for them.
De’Andre Hunter on the Cavs has been playing some great basketball. It sucks the Hawks had to get rid of him, but unfortunately, Hunter took too long to break out. He had stretches of great basketball, but far too often he would be injured to justify keeping him around.
LeVert is a great piece off the bench (he already has more games with 5+ assists with the Hawks this season than Hunter) and Niang is a solid scorer who can contribute a few minutes a game. Factoring in Mann, the Hawks completely revamped their bench. Overall, two solid trades for Atlanta.
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