The Atlanta Hawks were active during Thursday’s trade deadline acquiring Saddiq Bey, Garrison Mathews, and Bruno Fernando while shipping away Justin Holiday, Frank Kaminisky, and seven second round picks. While Garrison Mathews and Bruno Fernando may not see a ton of time on the court, Saddiq Bey gives the Hawks more shooting, depth, and defense. Thursday night on The Jon Chuckery Show, Jon discussed if the Hawks deadline moves can help them avoid the play-in-tournament.
The addition of Saddiq Bey alone does so much for the Hawks depth. The 6 '7 forward the Hawks acquired from the Detroit Pistons now gives the Hawks another shooter for the second unit, another big and long wing defender, and a lot of different lineup options for Nate McMillan. Jon Chuckery believes the addition of Saddiq Bey to a healthy Hawks lineup plus the Hawks having sixteen of their final twenty-six games at home gives the Hawks a good chance to move up in the standings saying “If they can protect home court advantage they can probably, realistically, they can probably jump up a couple of spots.”
It should be a welcoming sign for Hawks fans that the team added more than they subtracted at the trade deadline, and after rumors and reports that the Hawks could potentially trade John Collins and Bogdan Bogdanovic it looks like the Hawks are going to try and make another run like they did in 2021 after keeping both Collins and Bogdanovic and adding Saddiq Bey. Now, the only thing that is left to be seen is whether or not the Atlanta Hawks can conjure up any of that magic they had in 2021 when they made a run to the Eastern Conference Finals.