Five Facts We Know About The Atlanta Hawks After 12 Games

The season is still in its early stages, but there are some long-term trends that are starting to emerge about the Atlanta Hawks thus far.

Nov 9, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels (5) is defended by Los Angeles Lakers guard Collin Sexton (10) during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Through 12 games, the Atlanta Hawks are occupying a sadly familiar spot in the NBA hierarchy. They're 7-5 and 5th in the Eastern Conference, which gives them a solid floor against most teams. Yet, when matched up with teams that are on a tear, the Hawks still have work to do.

Their most recent game against the Lakers provided more credence to that belief. Although they held Luka Doncic under the 40 point mark he was averaging, he still scored 32 and dished out 10 assists. By contrast, Atlanta's top two offensive options, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu, both had largely forgettable nights. However, it's not as simple as saying Atlanta doesn't have the star power. LA shot better from deep, established a clear edge around the basket (52-40 edge in points in the paint) and executed better on defense. Of their 16 turnovers, they only conceded 14 points. In comparison, Atlanta's 20 turnovers turned into 29 points.

There's still over 85% of the season left to be played, but some things tend to hold over from Game 1 all the way through Game 82. What have we learned about Atlanta through their first extended stretch of games?

Hawks Shooters Shoot - A Lot

Nov 7, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (7) attempts a three point shot against the Brooklyn Nets during the third quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It's very hard to survive on offense in the modern NBA if a team is ineffective from beyond the arc. The Hawks' approach is to get up a lot of shots from deep and technically speaking, they do have shooters who are capable of shouldering that massive load. Thus far, they are 3rd in the entire NBA for three-point attempts per game. They're also 11th in three-point frequency relative to the rest of their shots.

I expect this trend to hold. When Quin Snyder first came to Atlanta, the Hawks finished the 2022-23 season with the 28th-most three-point attempts in the NBA. They were 7th the very next season, dropped to 15th in 2024-25 and ended 2025-26 in the 9th spot. As long as Snyder is at the helm, it's pretty clear that the Hawks are going to get threes up at an extremely high frequency. They may not stay in the top three, but they should finish the season in the top five if most of the rotation stays healthy. Adding Aaron Wiggins and Kingston Flemings should give them the necessary lift in volume to keep this number steady throughout the season.

Controlling the Corner

Nov 6, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Corey Kispert (24) shoots against the Washington Wizards in the third quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

One thing that speaks well to Atlanta's overall shooting is their profienciency on corner threes. It's always good to have an offense that produces well on corner threes so that there's good options for the kickout pass after the ball-handler drives into the paint. This is something the Hawks are good at.

They make the 6th-most corner threes in the NBA, attempt the 8th-most and convert at the 9th-highest percentage. Furthermore, the Hawks have a lot of players who can create their own looks from deep. They are 3rd in 3P% on pull-up threes, which is a huge benefit to their spacing.

Dyson Daniels Is a Star - In His Role

Nov 9, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) controls the ball against Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels (5) during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In comparison to his $100 million contract, Dyson Daniels is one of the most valuable role players/additive starters in the entire NBA.

The first 11 games of Daniels' season have been historic. He's racked up 108 points, 79 rebounds, 60 assists, and 32 steals, becoming the first player since 1994 Scottie Pippen to tally 100+ points, 75+ rebounds, 50+ assists, and 30+ steals in that same span. The advanced numbers bear out how much of a difference he makes for Atlanta.

The Hawks are 18.2 points better in Daniels' 363 minutes. Most of that difference comes on defense, where Atlanta has a elite defensive rating of 107.4 in his minutes and a putrid 124 defensive rating when he sits. However, he's still a +1.6 on offense despite shooting a breathtakingly awful 11.1% from deep. His terrible mark from distance shouldn't overshadow the 2.2 rim assists (87th percentile), 3.0 steals per game (100th percentile) and 7.1 rebounds (100th percentile) he's averaging on a nightly basis.

He is the best rebounding guard in the NBA, one of the better passers in the NBA and a high-level defender who directly turns defense into offense at an impressive rate. He obviously got dusted by Luka Doncic on a few plays against LA, but on the 84 possesions he guarded Doncic for, he held him to 16.1 points per 75 possessions. That's not easy to do and it further illustrates how valuable he is to the Hawks on the whole.

Jalen Johnson Is Overtaxed

Nov 9, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) fights for the ball with Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Jalen Johnson's had a shaky start to the season - no way around it. He's averaging 19.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game on 44.9/20.5/82 shooting splits. With the exception of his FT%, all of those numbers are worse than last year. He's averaging 3.2 turnovers per game, which is in the 19th percentile. He still draws a lot of contact (5.6 free throws attempted - 89th percentile), but the overall effectiveness as a scorer isn't there.

He's still pretty effective finding players around the basket - his 3.3 rim assists rank in the 96th percentile among all forwards. He's still getting 8.6 rebounds per game, which is among the best at his position. However, he's not delivering the same defensive impact as he did in previous seasons. His defense last season wasn't great, but he was still an average shot contester (3.4 rim points saved per game - 59th percentile) and fouled only 8.2% of the time (82nd percentile). Now, he's giving up 8.2 rim points per game (10th percentile) and fouling 12.9% of the time (41st percentile).

I do believe the shot will go down more with time, but I think it's time for the Hawks to start thinking about how they can get Johnson back into a role where he can focus on defense, rebounding and complementary passing rather than driving Atlanta's offense every single night. Maybe that comes with the ascension of Kingston Flemings, but that's going to take time. The Hawks are just going to have to bide their time and be patient for when the right opportunity strikes.

Stops Are Scarce Without Steals

Nov 9, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Collin Sexton (10) drives to the basket against Atlanta Hawks guard Aaron Wiggins (2) during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The addition of Lu Dort, coupled with more time in Snyder's system, was expected to help Atlanta's defense. It's fair to say that hasn't come to fruition yet. I think it's probably going to be another mediocre year for a Hawks defense that showed major weaknesses in the postseason and hasn't meaningfully progressed through 12 games.

The Hawks are 22nd in points conceded and 27th in opponent FG%. They're also 21st in opponent free throws attempted rate, which shows that they aren't a very disciplined defense. The defensive rating is a bit better - they're 12th in the league. However, one has to wonder if that will still hold true if Atlanta's steal rate slips. They're 4th in steals per game and that doesn't always translate to a structurally sound defense. High steal numbers can be heavily influenced by gambling on defense - and that leaves opportunities to be punished for said gamble.

To be fair, the Hawks have done a good job forcing fewer attempts from deep - they're 4th in 3PT attempts conceded per game and 11th in 3P% given up. However, they're awful at defending teams within six feet of the basket. They allow 69.9% in this range, which is the 3rd-worst mark in the NBA. They also allow teams to shoot 60.8% from the field within ten feet, which is the sixth-worst mark in the NBA. That speaks to a bigger problem of not having capable frontcourt defenders, which doesn't seem like it's going to get much better over time barring a trade.

In addition, Dort himself has been a huge negative on defense. They're 12.5 points better on defense when he's sitting on the bench and he's fouling 18.6% of possesions (10th percentile among guards). He's averaging 2 deflections per game, which is above-average. However, it doesn't take away from how little he's impacting opponent shot quality right now.