NBA Season Preview 2022-23: Every team’s current longest-tenured player
By Luke Anton
Atlanta Hawks: John Collins, 5 years
Fact or fiction? During John Collins’ rookie season, the 2017-18 Atlanta Hawks were coached by Mike Budenholzer and won 24 games, finishing dead last in the Eastern Conference.
That’s a FACT. And so is this: Just three years later, the Hawks were two games away from making it to the 2020-21 NBA Finals, but they lost to the eventual-champion Milwaukee Bucks, who were coached by none other than Coach Bud.
The No. 19 pick of the 2017 draft, Collins is entering the second year of his five-year, $125 million contract signed last offseason, and he’s been in Hawks trade rumors for quite some time now.