Atlanta Hawks rumors: Don’t expect a fire sale

Things have gone very poorly for the Atlanta Hawks lately. Hawks’ owner Bruce Levenson announced that he would be selling his stake of the team after it was revealed he made racist comments about the people of Atlanta in e-mail. Then, it was revealed that general manager Danny Ferry had a racist scouting report on Miami Heat forward Luol Deng. The Hawks were courting Deng in free agency before he ultimately signed with the Heat. In the scouting report, it said Deng “is still a young guy overall. He is a good guy overall. But he is not perfect. He’s got some African in him. And I don’t say that in a bad way.” Both Deng and Ferry have since released statements and you can read Deng’s complete statement here.

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That has led to speculation that players may not want to play for a team like the Hawks and with a new owner coming in, there could be an overhaul.

However, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders does not expect the Hawks to have a fire sale.

"I don’t think you’ll see a fire sale on the roster… I think Millsap is a question because of his contract status, but your not stealing him because of the idiocy around the team. New ownership may install new leadership on the Ops side and that may change things, but I wouldn’t expect a trade."

Millsap is entering the final year of his contract and will likely command a huge raise if he performs as well as he did last year, which is why he could be traded, but it seems unlikely. With Al Horford returning from his pectoral injury to join Millsap and point guard Jeff Teague still in the fold, the Hawks could be a real player in the Eastern Conference.

Be sure to check FanSided’s official NBA page to keep up to date on the latest news and rumors from around the league all summer long.

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