Atlanta Hawks Projected Starting Lineup After Re-Signing CJ McCollum

The Atlanta Hawks' first offseason domino fell today when it was reported that guard CJ McCollum was going to re-sign with the team on a one-year, $21 million deal. This was a move that was widely expected, but now McCollum is officially going to be back in Atlanta to start the next season.

After remaking their team over the course of the year, the Hawks settled on a starting lineup of McCollum, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, and Onyeka Okongwu, and that lineup went 19-4 and was one of the best in the NBA over that period. Per Cleaning the Glass, that five -man lineup had a +21.4 net rating in 822 possessions, which is very elite.

Considering that they only had a number of weeks to play together, that is impressive. Not a full regular season sample, but it was good enough to where the Hawks want to run it back seemingly and it is hard to say that is a wrong choice.

Barring a big, unforeseen trade that shakes up the team, I think that is where we are heading towards.

Let's project the Atlanta Hawks starting five after the re-signing of McCollum.

Starting five for 2026-2027

G- CJ McCollum
G- Nickeil Alexander-Walker
F- Dyson Daniels
F- Jalen Johnson
C- Onyeka Okongwu

Again, barring something unforeseen (such as a trade for Jaylen Brown), I think that the Hawks are going to run it back with the same starting lineup that they finished the season with.

The core of this Hawks team is going to be Johnson, Alexander-Walker, Daniels, and Okongwu. McCollum is going to provide shotmaking and veteran leadership on this team once again, and if the Hawks take a guard at No. 8, McCollum would be a great player to learn from. His clutch shotmaking in the 4th quarter helped the Hawks win two playoff games against the Knicks, and he held up on defense better than expected.

If the Hawks were to say, trade for Jaylen Brown, then there is a world in which I see McCollum moving to the bench, but I don't think that is what's going to happen.

Fresh off winning the NBA's Most Improved Player Award, Alexander-Walker is going to hope to build off the best season of his career. He had a dud of a playoff series against the Knicks, but during the season, he was an excellent scorer, while also being an elite perimeter defender. It will be exciting to see if there is a next step for NAW after his big breakout year.

Daniels is still one of the elite perimeter defenders in the NBA and he guarded Jalen Brunson as well as anyone in the playoffs. He has to improve the three-point shooting and overall aggressiveness on offense, but Daniels is one of the Hawks most valuable players and still has plenty of room for growth.

No player on the roster took as big of a leap as Jalen Johnson did last season. He made his first All-NBA team and was 5th in the NBA in assists, while also making the All-Star game for the first time. He was disappointing in the playoffs, but that was not unexpected given that he was going through his first postseason as the No. 1 option, facing the Knicks no less. Johnson is a vigilant worker who is going to try and improve every facet of his game and I would not be surprised to see another leap.

Okongwu had arguably the best season of his career in 2025-2026, especially with his improvement as a three-point shooter. Okongwu shot a career-best 37.6% from three on five attempts per game, which was also a career high. Being able to stretch the floor at an elite level and play strong defense makes Okongwu one of the most underrated centers in the league.

This starting lineup was really good down the stretch of the season and unless something drastic happens to this roster in the coming weeks (or days), I think you should count on seeing this starting lineup once again for the Atlanta Hawks.

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