NBA Trade: Atlanta Hawks acquire Tiago Splitter from Spurs

The Atlanta Hawks are wheeling and dealing as free agency opens, trading for Spurs center Tiago Splitter to shore up their defense.

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When the Atlanta Hawks flamed out in the postseason, it was very clear that they needed to make moves this summer to shore up the hole that presented themselves at the worst time. Injuries aside, the Hawks needed to find some solid defense that they didn’t completely have last season — and they might have found that in Tiago Splitter.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the San Antonio Spurs have traded center Tiago Splitter to the Hawks to hear up cap space to make a max offer run at LaMarcus Aldridge.

This is a great move for the Hawks, as it gives them security in case they lose DeMarre Carroll this summer — something that seems like it’s going to happen if they bring back Paul Millsap on the massive deal Orlando offered him.

San Antonio ends up the real winner in this deal though, as they free up a ton of cap space to now make a max offer run at LaMarcus Aldridge. It was already looking like Aldridge preferred to play with the Spurs, thanks to the way Popovich extends players careers.

Now that the Spurs have the money to make a run at Aldridge, it’s looking like the first massive free agent domino is about to fall.

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