With the Al Horford set to become a free agent and the Atlanta Hawks regressing, should they trade their big man?
The Atlanta Hawks are going to have an interesting offseason this year, but things could get more interesting before the offseason even begins. The team is still third in the Eastern Conference and looks primed to make another attempt at making a run in the playoffs.
However, it is clear that this team is a far cry from the same one that won 60 games last year and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. At best, their ceiling is probably somewhere around last year’s conference finals trip.
They’re coming off a road trip where they struggled against some bad teams in the Western Conference and it’s got people wondering what exactly the future of this Atlanta Hawks team is. They’ve got some big questions ahead of them going forward, such as Al Horford set to be a free agent.
It’s unlikely the Hawks would consider trading him to get something at the deadline considering where they are at, but is handing him a giant contract in the off-season the right move?
As Basketball Insiders has pointed out, Horford’s numbers this season has regressed and it might make the Hawks question giving him a gigantic max contract.
"As things stand today the Hawks are the four seed in the East, but not nearly the dominant and cohesive team they were this time last year. Horford is posting reasonably strong numbers this season, but is off his career averages in a pretty significant way, posting 14.4 points and 7.5 rebounds so far in 2016; not exactly max-contract type numbers.Hawks sources found the notion of trading Horford laughable, pointing to how important he was to the team dynamic in Atlanta and that he’s a core guy in Mike Budenholzer’s system.There is a sense among NBA insiders that a hefty offer could steal Horford away from the Hawks, especially if the team continues to regress from their record setting form from last season."
Horford has been the stalwart in the middle for the Hawks for many years, but if they get the right offer from a team, would they move him? Someone’s going to make him a huge offer in free agency and the Hawks have to think about whether or not he would be worth a max contract as he continues to get older and show more signs of regression.
It’s not an easy decision to make with just how far the franchise has come with him, but it’s a decision that they can’t afford to ignore and laugh off.