Atlanta Hawks Emerging As ‘Serious Suitor’ For Monta Ellis
By Josh Sanchez
Despite receiving plenty of interest since the start of free agency, Milwaukee Bucks guard Monta Ellis has yet to pick a home. That could be changing soon, however, since the Atlanta Hawks are emerging as a team that could step up their efforts to land the free agent guard before someone else can scoop him up.
Atlanta has already lost Josh Smith and Zaza Pachulia on the open market, so they are looking to start making moves to improve their franchise.
From ESPN.com:
"The Hawks, according to NBA front-office sources, have emerged as a serious suitor for Ellis in free agency on top of the deals Atlanta has already struck with former Utah Jazz forward Paul Millsap and returning sharpshooter Kyle Korver.With the future of restricted free agent point guard Jeff Teague still uncertain, Atlanta has roughly $10 million in available salary-cap space to potentially use on Ellis. Sources say that the Hawks have also given center Andrew Bynum some thought, but all the latest signals suggest that Ellis is the Hawks’ top current target."
Atlanta may have to beat out the Denver Nuggets for Ellis, so they may look for a creative way to offer him more money without damaging their cap long-term.
Free agency kicked off just after midnight on Monday, so be sure to stay tuned to FanSided.com throughout the free agency period as we keep you up to date with the latest news and rumors from around the league.