Biggest Winners and Losers From the Atlanta Hawks Draft

The first round of the 2026 NBA Draft is in the books for the Atlanta Hawks.

While Atlanta was mentioned as a team that was open for business and talked about as a big trade team to watch, the Hawks stuck with both of their picks at No. 8 and No. 23 and made selections.

First up for Atlanta was Houston point guard Kingston Flemings. Flemings was the most popular pick for the Hawks in the latest mock drafts, and the Hawks now have what they hope is their point guard of the future.

At No. 23, Atlanta made a bit of a surprise pick with Saint John's big man Zuby Ejiofor. While the Hawks adding to their frontcourt is not a huge surprise, they were projected to take a player with more size. Ejiofor is a bit of an undersized big who struggled to shoot the ball with the Red Storm last season.

However, the reigning Big East Player (and defensive player) of the year plays with a high motor, was an excellent rim protector, and is going to bring an edge with him when he is on the court.

With the first round of the draft now behind us, let's look at the winners and losers from last night.

Winner: Hawks long-term point guard plan

While the Hawks did re-sign CJ McCollum for one more season, Atlanta had a big question at the point guard position long-term. While they did not have to take a point guard tonight, that was one of the strengths of the draft, and being able to address this position is a big win for the Hawks.

Right now, Atlanta has a proven core four of Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jalen Johnson, and Onyeka Okongwu. Flemings is not going to have pressure on him right away to come in and perform because the Hawks were the only playoff team that was picking in the top ten. He can come in and take over the Gabe Vincent minutes off the bench, and after McCollum's contract expires, he could be in a position to take over this team sooner rather than later.

Winner: Jalen Johnson

I think that Johnson is a winner for multiple reasons.

Johnson was the Hawks primary play-maker last season, finishing 5th in the NBA in assists, but he was a little overtaxed in his role and while McCollum and Alexander-Walker are fine players, they are not much when it comes to play-making and passing.

I think Flemings is not only going to be able to fee Johnson in transition, but also take some of the offensive role off his shoulders. These two players should complement each other well and I think Johnson is going to benefit from playing alongside Flemings.

Loser: Asa Newell

Look, I don't think that Newell is some massive loser here or anything, but with Atlanta opting to take Zuby Ejiofor, who is more of a combo big rather than a true center or power forward, I am just wondering how those two players skillsets are going to overlap.

One of the concerns with Newell and why he fell to No. 23 last summer was questions about his shooting and questions about what position he was going to play long-term.

Some of those same questions are going to be had about Ejiofor.

What you can say about what Ejiofor is that he is going to bring a lot of toughness to the Hawks, as well as rim protection and defense. Those are not Newell's strengths and they are not the same player, but they do overlap a bit and I am going to be interested to see how they both fit on the long-term vision that Onsi Saleh has for this Hawks team.

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