Hawks Had Second-Best Offseason According to The Athletic

By the second week of August, the dust has finally settled from the draft and free agency frenzy of early July. For better or worse, each team has finalized its squad for the 2022-23 NBA season.

Except for some training camp invites and two-way contract signings, all of the player movement is over. Recently, David Aldridge of The Athletic ranked every team's offseason moves.

The “Top 10” is relative in any context.@davidaldridgedc’s list is not a guarantee of on-court success next season, but he does see significant improvement coming soon.

So who won the offseason?

Nos. 10-1: https://t.co/cBJdUhfLt3 pic.twitter.com/wtXFAMSSXQ
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 11, 2022

Atlanta Hawks fans will be happy to learn that the team ranked second in the league. Only the Philadelphia 76ers ranked higher, which is fair given James Harden's bargain of a contract and the addition of veteran P.J. Tucker.

Back to the Hawks. Everyone knows they added Dejounte Murray and completely reconfigured their second unit. Below is an excerpt from Aldridge's reasoning behind his Hawks ranking:

"We like big swings around here, especially by teams that are good — but not quite good enough to truly contend. So we love the Hawks leaning into Trae Young’s superstardom by getting him a young Jrue-like second in Murray, who made his first All-Star team last season and gives Atlanta a wildly athletic and ridiculously young (23 and 25, respectively) backcourt."

Aldridge does raise some fair questions about the Hawks in his article, which you can read here. But when an NBA analyst as well respected as Aldrige is high on your team, that is a good sign. It should come as a relief after NBA.com ranked the Hawks significantly lower in their offseason rankings last week.

After signing Trent Forrest to a two-way contract last week, the Hawks roster is ready to go on Opening Night. Now fans can sit back and wait for the upcoming release of the 2022-23 schedule. Stay locked into AllHawks.com for breaking news, highlights, and analysis.

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