Should the Atlanta Hawks Re-Sign Caris LeVert After This Season?

Before being traded to the Atlanta Hawks, Caris LeVert averaged 10.2 points, 3.7 assists and 2.8 rebounds on 45.3/40.5/69.9% shooting splits. The Hawks traded for him with the intention of adding an expiring contract to their payroll that freed up future salary cap space. Even though he was a solid player in Cleveland, his scoring inconsistency and inability to guard against the bigger wings that the Cavs would face in the playoffs made him a cast-off for arguably the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Since being traded to Atlanta, LeVert's been excellent for the Hawks. His FG% jumped from 45.3% to 51%, he's upped his 2P% from 50% to 63.2% and his TS% bumped up from 58% to 60.6%. His three-point percentage dropped from 40.5% to 34.8%, but he is also taking more threes (6.9 attempts per game). Even if the spacing hasn't always been there, he's been a reliable source of offense for Atlanta while also being active on defense. Furthermore, he's an excellent fit alongside Trae Young. In the 213 minutes he's played with Young, he's averaging 19.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2 assists on a TS% of 61.3% per 75 possessions. That's comfortably above the league average TS% of 57.5%. Furthermore, one of the more underrated parts of LeVert's fit in Atlanta is his ball security. After recording a 13.2% turnover percentage in limited minutes with Cleveland, he's posted a career-best TOV% of 5.7% despite increasing his usage.

On defense, he hasn't graded out as well as he did in Cleveland. With Atlanta, he has a defensive box plus-minus of -0.7 and 0.2 defensive win shares, both of which are down from his Cleveland tenure. That being said, his defensive rebounding percentage has gone up from 9.9% to 12%. He competes on that end and uses his defensive IQ to get into the right positions. He's athletic enough to stick with most perimeter scorers and slow them down.

Now, the question becomes whether Atlanta should bring him back in the 2025-26 season. He is in the last year of a two-year, $32 million dollar contract and his current salary is $16.6 million. 2025-26 is his age-31 season and he will be a unrestricted free agent this summer. It is hard to predict what the market is going to look like for his services. He fits best on a playoff team who wants to supplement their rotation. Therefore, it's reasonable to expect that teams like the Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs could be interested in working out a deal with LeVert. Those three teams have significant cap flexibility and need to build their rotation out.

In terms of free agent expectations for LeVert, his age and lack of consistent shooting are going to be working against him while his experience on playoff teams in Brooklyn and Cleveland will help. On Spotrac, the Hawks are currently projected to have around $8 million dollars in practical cap space. Is that enough space to bring LeVert back and sign the two first-round picks Atlanta will likely have the 2025 NBA Draft? While it is true that the Hawks have around $50 million in expiring contracts on their books, Jalen Johnson's cap hit jumps up from $4.5 million to $30 million next season. That limits the amount of flexibility Atlanta has to add more pieces.

If LeVert is interested in coming back, I don't think the Hawks would make a commitment that extends longer than 3 seasons. In terms of the comparable rate for players of his caliber, two possible comparisons could be Buddy Hield and ironically, a former Atlanta Hawk in Bogdan Bogdanovic. Hield signed a 4-year, $37.7 million dollar contract that kicked in for his age-32 season. That's an average annual salary of $9.43 million dollars. Bogdanovic signed a 4-year, $68 million deal with an average annual salary of $17 million dollars. I'd expect LeVert's new contract to fall closer to the Hield end of that spectrum. He isn't a high-volume shooter from deep or an elite defender. While LeVert has played 65+ games in each of his last two seasons, injuries tend to pile up quickly once players hit their age-32 and age-33 seasons. It's unlikely he'll receive a deal with the same cap hits that he got with Cleveland.

Should the Hawks fail to retain LeVert, it's going to be a big loss for their second unit. He and Georges Niang have formed an excellent scoring duo off the bench - either of them can eclipse 20 points on any given night and deserve respect as catch-and-shoot options. If the Hawks want to build a more competitive team around Young, it'll be hard to swallow the loss of a veteran with a clearly important role in Atlanta.

Additional Links

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