Hawks Bring Back Dewayne Dedmon In Trade With Kings
The Hawks acquired center Dewayne Dedmon from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Alex Len and Jabari Parker Wednesday night, ESPN's Zach Lowe and Adrian Wojnarowski reported. Atlanta will also receive Sacramento's 2020 and 2021 second-round picks.
Dedmon signed with the Kings last offseason after two seasons with the Hawks, and will finish out the year back in Atlanta. The seven-year veteran struggled to find his place with the Kings, averaging just 5.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting 19.7 percent from 3-point range. He publicly requested a trade in December, and his wish has finally been granted.
Like Clint Capela, whom the Hawks acquired on Tuesday, Dedmon is under contract beyond this season, having signed a three-year, $40 million deal in the summer of 2019. In that sense, this trade also acts, functionally, as a free-agent signing, as the Hawks no longer need to chase a backup or starting center on the open market. Atlanta is currently slated to still have roughly $49 million in cap space this summer.
Dedmon is exactly the sort of two-way center the Hawks have been chasing since they let him get away this summer. His presence, both on and off the floor, was an integral part of what success the Hawks had last season. He started 52 games a year ago and gave Atlanta elements on both ends of the floor that aren't on the roster this season. His voice in the locker room was an important part of the team's culture, and the Hawks struggled to replace that as they struggled early in the year.
Defensively, the 30-year-old can protect the rim and switch onto the perimeter, though his athleticism has waned as he has aged. He is a far better rim protector than Damian Jones or Bruno Fernando, and his communication on the back line makes him an even more valuable defender than do his physical tools alone.
Dedmon shot 37 percent from beyond the arc in two seasons with the Hawks, including 38 percent last season. That helped open up space for the offense -- particularly for John Collins rolling to the basket and Trae Young probing into the lane. Atlanta was 4.5 points per 100 possessions better with Dedmon on the floor last season, and found success using him as a screener with Collins in double pick-and-roll actions with Young in the middle of the floor. The Hawks have tried to simulate that action this season with Vince Carter in Dedmon's place, but it hasn't worked to the same effect. He can also work as a roll man, though he doesn't have quite the same burst around the rim as he did in San Antonio earlier in his career.
If he can rediscover his touch from beyond the arc, Dedmon should help open the offense back up, even if he won't be starting anymore. That would make him a clean fit with both Collins and Capela on offense (though it's unlikely Dedmon and Capela share the floor often), and his versatility on both ends should make the Hawks more flexible and dynamic. At the very least, his experience in the league and familiarity with Lloyd Pierce's system should give Atlanta more competent play on the second unit.
Pierce now has the option of pairing Dedmon with Collins on second units to avoid overlap with Collins and Capela, though it could be more difficult to get to lineups with Collins at center with another legitimate rotation center in the mix.
The Hawks hoped that Len would step into a similar floor-spacing role after Dedmon left, but like his former teammate, Len's jumper has abandoned him this season. The big man has still been Atlanta's best center this season, but has also been dealing with a spell of injuries and is currently out with a strained hip flexor. Parker, meanwhile, hasn't played since January 3 with a shoulder impingement.
Like in their trade for Capela, the Hawks didn't have to sacrifice much to add a player that could make a positive impact in an area of great need. (Don't sleep on those two second-round picks, either.) Len has had a nice year, but doesn't offer the same kind of flexibility Dedmon does. Parker's brand of isolation scoring wouldn't have been as valuable with Collins and Kevin Huerter fully reintegrated on offense, and his defense has always been a liability. Dedmon is as close to an ideal fit as Atlanta could have hoped to find, and while his skill set is limited, spacing the floor and protecting the rim are perhaps the two most valuable things a center can do in the modern NBA.
It's too late for Dedmon or Capela to point the 14-38 Hawks back toward the playoffs, but this team should be far more competitive after the All-Star break than they were before it. Atlanta's roster is far from complete, but it now has a promising young core and a capable cast of veterans to help bring its young players along.
