The Atlanta Hawks Should Pivot To This Star Center In Trade Talks Instead of Anthony Davis

Anthony Davis has been the reported target for the Hawks, but his recent injury should cause them to evaluate other options, including one that makes more sense than Davis.

Dec 3, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Mouhamed Gueye (18) and LA Clippers center Ivica Zubac (40) fight for a rebound during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Now that the Hawks are suddenly working with a lot more future cap space as a result of trading Trae Young, they now have interesting decisions to consider when it comes to adding to their roster.

It is known that the Hawks are looking for a more traditional starting center, and it makes sense when looking at the team's biggest deficiencies. They are one of the worst rebounding teams in basketball and 22nd in points given up in the paint. Furthermore, the Hawks allow teams to shoot 67% at the rim, which ranks 17th league-wide. That being said, Atlanta's centers aren't bad players. Their top two centers, Onyeka Okongwu and Kristaps Porzingis, have both been quite good for the Hawks this season. However, they might not be maximized as full-time centers.

For Okongwu, he's a very good transition defender and has enough athleticism to hold up on the perimeter. However, he can't quite protect the rim in the same way that a true center would be able to. The Hawks' opponents shoot 1.5% better at the rim when Okongwu is in the game, which is in the 34th percentile relative to all bigs. Porzingis was fully capable of being this rim protector during his days with the Boston Celtics. He held opponents to shooting 6.9% worse at the rim during Boston's championship season and 7.9% worse last season. Both of those figures are above the 95th percentile among all centers. Yet, it's not realistic to expect this from Porzingis anymore due to his chronic struggle with POTS and his checkered injury history.

Ideally, the Hawks could run a double-big lineup that pairs Okongwu or Kristaps with a rim protector who can also provide something on offense. Okongwu's been excellent on offense this season - he's averaging a career-high 16.2 points, and 3.3 assists on 48.5/36.4/76.9 shooting splits. That 36.4% from deep has been especially noticeable since he's taking about five threes a game. Porzingis is statistically one of the best big man shooters ever and his down season of 36% on about five attempts a game is still valuable enough to have him as a central part of the rotation.

Even though he fits that criteria, Anthony Davis should not be the player they add to their big man rotation.

This Version of Anthony Davis Is Not Worth The Price

Apr 2, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) and Atlanta Hawks forward Onyeka Okongwu (17) go for the ball during the third quarter at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Two of the biggest reasons for Anthony Davis being a poor fit for the Hawks admittedly do not have little to do with basketball play.

His injury history is probably the biggest factor that should give Atlanta pause. At the time of this article, he's out with ligament damage in his hand, and he's considering surgery in order to fix it. That would sideline him for a significant portion of the remaining season, not to mention that it's highly likely Davis continues to suffer from injuries. He's already had three injuries that have sidelined him for a significant portion of time since getting traded to the Mavericks. Furthermore, these are all different injuries. He's dealt with an adductor strain, detached retina, calf strain and now ligament damage. These issues have limited him to just 29 games as a Dallas Maverick thus far.

The second is the contract that he's on. Davis is on a contract that extends for the next three seasons and will pay him $54.1 million this season, $58.4 million next season and a player option of $62.7 million in the final year of the deal. That's a staggering amount of money for a player that isn't avaliable very often and it gets even worse when considering that the team acquring him will have to give him a new contract.

On the court, it's questionable whether Davis would even be a fit. He was at his best when he could play at the 4 and benefit from a rim protector next to him - Dwight Howard filled that role in during the Lakers' 2020 championship run. At the center spot, he can certainly protect the rim and has versatility on defense as well. He's not currently playing like it.

The Mavericks are actually better (2.1 points per 100 possessions) on defense when Davis sits and opponents shoot 2.3% better from the field when he sits. It's the first time in his career that the team has been better on defense in these metrics without Davis. His BLK% is at a career-low 2.5% and he's been a complete neutral when protecting the rim (48th percentile among all bigs, +0.2%). To be clear, it isn't like Davis has completely fallen off a cliff. Just last season, he was playing some of the best defense of his career for the Mavericks in the nine games he suited up for them. Right now, it's unclear if Davis will be able to tap into that form this season.

The Hawks Should Pivot To Ivica Zubac

Dec 3, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; LA Clippers center Ivica Zubac (40) tries to get past Atlanta Hawks forward Onyeka Okongwu (17) during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Ivica Zubac has long been considered the top target on the center market for teams that are pursuing an upgrade at that spot. However, the Hawks have a unique combination of enticing first-round picks, players to offer, and enough long-term cap space to make the Zubac addition worth it. The same three reasons that make AD a rough fit with the Hawks are positives for Big Zu.

While he's missed some time with injury this season, he's still pretty durable. This season, he's played 32 games out of a possible 37 games for the Clippers. He's played over 65 games for every season of his Clippers career, a streak that extends back to 2019-20. That is massive for a Hawks team that has dealt with injuries to Clint Capela, Onyeka Okongwu, and now Porzingis in recent memory. They have lacked consistent, healthy play at the center spot for multiple seasons in a row, and it'd be worth taking a swing on someone who has a demonstrated track record of health at only 28 years old.

Zubac's contract is also excellent. His contract runs for the exact same length as Davis's, but he's making $18.1 million this season, $19.5 million next season, and around $21 million in the final year of his contract. He'd hit unrestricted free agency at 31 years old, so he could also earn another extension at that age. That deal is a bargain for what he's given the Clippers, and it'd be a similar steal if the Hawks pulled the trigger on a deal for him.

His playstyle also makes a ton of sense for what the Hawks need. He's coming off the best season of his career on both ends, but the defense is obviously more pertinent to what the Hawks need. Zubac finished sixth in DPOY voting last season and earned an All-Defense Second Team nod for his excellent work on that end. This season, his defense hasn't been quite as impressive as it was last year, but it isn't as sharp of a difference as it is from Davis.

His BLK% has remained around the same, from 1.8% to 1.5% this year, while the rebounding numbers have stayed similar as well. His OREB% went from 12.8% last season to 12.3% this season, while his DREB% went from 27.1% to 22.9%. It's fair to say that Zubac hasn't been as good this season on defense, but the difference hasn't been as dramatic, and there's plenty of time for him to get those numbers back up. He'd also be surrounded by two very good perimeter defenders in Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, an elite defensive rebounder in Johnson, and a passable perimeter defender in Risacher. That's a better defensive infrastructure than what he currently has in LA.

As a rim protector, it's not so much that Zubac forces teams to miss more shots at the rim. He averages about a block a game, which is solid, but he's not an elite shot-blocker and doesn't always have the athletic ability to swallow the paint up. However, Zubac is a very effective rim deterrent. 2025-26 is his sixth straight season finishing in the 90th percentile or better for limiting shots taken at the rim in his minutes. When he's on the court, teams attempt 4.1% fewer shots at the rim. That is not true of Davis, who is actually seeing more attempts at the rim in his minutes (2% more - 22nd percentile) this season.

On offense, Zubac doesn't have a varied shot diet or any semblance of three-point shooting. However, he sets great screens, makes his presence felt in the paint, and improves the spacing for others due to his combination of the two. Zubac is one of the most physical screen-setters in basketball and often creates open looks for shooters because of it. It's why the Clippers, despite Zubac not being a good shooter from deep, shot 4.8% better from deep in his minutes last season. He's averaging a double-double this season of 14.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists. Unsurprisingly, a lot of those points come on post-ups in the paint. He posts up at the third-highest frequency in the NBA and while he's not overwhelmingly efficient this season on post-ups, he passes out of them at a frequency comparable to Nikola Jokic (42.5% passing percentage for Jokic compared to 41.6% for Zubac). When he does decide to back his man down, he shoots 58.2% on post-ups, a percentage comparable to names like Alperen Sengun (57.1%) and Joel Embiid (58.1%). Those players do get more touches in the post than Zubac does, but the overall ability to be a physical presence in the paint is not lacking. When he misses or needs to battle on the boards for another's shot, he's also still one of the best offensive rebounding centers in basketball.

Zubac had the best season of his career when working with James Harden in the two-man game, and he'd be playing with another talented playmaker in Jalen Johnson. Harden is one of the best passers alive, so it's not an apples-to-apples comparison. Even so, Johnson has been inarguably one of the ten best passers in the NBA this season - he's sixth in the NBA for assist points created and fifth in passes made. Daniels, NAW and new addition CJ McCollum are all fairly solid passers in their own right, so there are a lot of different ball-handlers who could weaponize Zu on offense. That being said, the Hawks don't need a lot from Zubac on offense. He just needs to complement Okongwu and Porzingis, which he's more than capable of doing.

The price for Zubac will be serious - it'll likely involve parting with Mo Gueye and two first-round picks at bare minimum. However, if they pull it off, the Hawks will have a cost-controlled roster with plenty of youth at all five spots and the depth to make noise in the postseason. That's usually a recipe for multiple seasons of playoff contention, which is exactly what the Hawks need if they want to turn the page on the Trae Young experience.