The Atlanta Hawks played in their 60th game of the 2024-25 NBA season on Friday night. The team fell to 27-33 with a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at State Farm Arena but, with the calendar flipping to March, the Hawks also had two days between games to regroup in advance of an intriguing cross-conference matchup on Monday.
Visiting Memphis
The Hawks take on the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum on Monday night. Similar to Atlanta, Memphis has scuffled recently, posting a 2-4 record since the All-Star break and a 3-6 mark in the last nine games. Some of that downturn can be tied to a combination of injuries and a difficult schedule, however, and Memphis is still 38-22 this season.
Atlanta will enter Monday's game without newly acquired power forward Georges Niang, who is sidelined with illness. The Hawks have four players — Jalen Johnson, Vit Krejci, Larry Nance, and Kobe Bufkin — out for an extended period of time, but the rest of the roster has been healthy for multiple weeks until this absence from Niang.
That leaves the Hawks without arguably their best perimeter shooter, and it also leaves Atlanta without real depth at the power forward position. Johnson was occupying well over 30 minutes per game at the position prior to his injury and, while Niang has been coming off the bench, he has played starter-level minutes since arriving from Cleveland.
Monday's game presents another underdog situation for the Hawks, particularly after a December loss to the Grizzlies at home in which Atlanta committed 25 turnovers. Still, the Hawks have been "giant killers" at times this season, and they will endeavor to pull a rabbit out of the hat on Monday.
A 10-day contract for Kevon Harris
On Saturday, the Hawks announced a 10-day contract for 27-year-old guard Kevon Harris. Atlanta created an open roster spot by waiving Bones Hyland in early February, and Harris has been close to the Hawks' program this season. At the time of the signing, he was averaging 19.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.3 steals per game in 31.0 minutes of action for Atlanta's G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks. He was also named the 2025 NBA G League Up Next Game MVP at NBA All-Star Weekend in San Francisco.
Harris is a native of Atlanta and he played college basketball at Stephen F. Austin before spending two seasons in the Orlando Magic organization. He is known for his offensive creation ability and, with Johnson, Bufkin, and Krejci all unavailable, Atlanta could use that insurance off the bench in a pinch. His 10-day contract would cover five games for the Hawks.
A new contract for Dom Barlow
On Sunday, Shams Charania of ESPN reported that the Hawks will be giving 21-year-old big man Dom Barlow a two-year standard contract. Notably, Barlow currently occupies a Two-Way slot for Atlanta after signing in the offseason following a stint with the San Antonio Spurs.
At present, the Hawks do not technically have an open roster spot to give Barlow the reported contract after the aforementioned 10-day investment in Kevon Harris. However, the Hawks could apply for a hardship exemption from the NBA that could grant the team the ability to have 16 players due to injury-related challenges. If that is unsuccessful, the Hawks could waive Harris or another player on the roster to pave the way for Barlow.
Barlow has appeared in 18 games of spot duty with the Hawks this season, and he has also averaged 20.0 points and 8.6 rebounds at the G League level for the College Park Skyhawks. Contractually, there are interesting machinations in play in that Charania's wording of the Hawks "converting" Barlow's contract does not align with a two-year pact. In short, NBA teams can unilaterally convert Two-Way contracts to rest-of-season standard contracts, but anything beyond the 2024-25 season would need to be mutually agreed to by the player and team.
Nonetheless, the Hawks are making something of a commitment to Barlow. He has an impressive combination of talent and youth that is appealing from a future-facing standpoint, and Barlow could also garner backup big man minutes down the stretch of the season in Atlanta.