The Blockbuster De'Aaron Fox-Zach LaVine Trade Has Major Implications for the Atlanta Hawks

The NBA never rests. Not even 24 hours after the blockbuster trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, there has been another major NBA trade. According to multiple reports, the Sacramento Kings are trading star point guard De'Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs in a three team trade. ESPN's Shams Charania was the first to report the news.

Full trade:

Spurs: De'Aaron Fox, Jordan McLaughlin

Kings: Zach LaVine, Sidy Cissoko, three first round picks (2025 CHA, 2027 SAS, 2031 MIN), three second round picks (2025 CHI, 2028 DEN, 2028 own back)

Bulls: Zach Collins, Tre Jones, Kevin Huerter, their own 2025 pick via SAS https://t.co/UgwylCUYAO
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2025

This is yet another trade that has implications for the Atlanta Hawks, this time multiple ones.

No, seriously.

Not only do the Atlanta Hawks have the Los Angeles Lakers' unprotected 1st round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, they own the Sacramento Kings 1st round pick (top 12 protected). While it is not an unprotected pick, it is another asset for a team that does not have many of their own.

The Kings getting back LaVine in this deal signals that they are still striving to compete this season and they are not going into a rebuild just because they trade Fox. LaVine is going to pair with Domantas Sabonis and former Bulls teammate DeMar DeRozan to try and make the playoffs in the Western Conference. Currently, the Kings are tied for 10th in the Western Conference and are 24-24 this season. Now, LaVine did not always play well alongside DeRozan when they were in Chicago and it was not always a perfect fit, but they will have to make it work again. This move does not guarantee that the Kings will make the playoffs, but they are not going to be trying to get a better draft position instead which is good news for the Hawks and their hopes of the pick conveying.

The Kings are getting a package of picks back from San Antonio, but none of them are the Hawks picks from the Dejounte Murray trade in the summer of 2022. San Antonio owns the Hawks 2025 unprotected first, swap rights to the 2026 first, and the Hawks unprotected 1st round pick in 2027. The Spurs will continue to own them and they are not being sent out in this trade tonight.

Another way this impacts the Hawks is that it makes the Bulls worse and they may not be done trading players. The Bulls are 1.5 games behind the Hawks for the 9th seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race and this move makes them worse. The Hawks are trying to navigate injuries right now and might be making some trades of their own over the next few days, but the Bulls being weaker does help. It looks like Chicago might be doing what is best for them and trying to better position themselves for the draft.

This seems like it is just the beginning of what might be a massive trade week for the NBA and there could even be some deals that either involve the Hawks or impact Atlanta.

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