Reviewing The Atlanta Hawks 2025 NBA Draft Class: Panic, Patience or Assurance?

When you look back at the Atlanta Hawks draft night a summer ago, most will remember the trade that they made with the New Orleans Pelicans. Atlanta moved down from 13th to 23rd and picked up an unprotected 2026 1st round pick that was the most favorable of New Orleans and Milwaukee's selections. That pick ended up 8th, saving the Pelicans some grief that would have came their way if the pick had jumped up to No. 1 or in the top four, but the Hawks are getting a top eight pick as a playoff team, which is still a win.

The trade is what gets the attention, but the Hawks also picked a player No. 23, and it was Asa Newell, a player that the Hawks were reportedly very interested in taking at No. 13.

So now that the Hawks season is in the rearview mirror, how should they feel about their draft after Newell's rookie season. Should there be panic, patience, or assurance?

I think Atlanta should feel pretty good about how Newell looked in his first season with the team, even though I don't think he is going to be a star necessarily.

Newell played in 44 games this season for the Hawks and averaged 5.2 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 11.4 MPG while shooting 54% from the field and 39% from three. Newell was not a part of the Hawks regular season rotation aside from the times when there were injuries to the roster or in the regular-season finale, when the Hawks sat players and Newell played 39 minutes. Of the 44 games that Newell appeared in, he played over 15 minutes in 14 of them.

The pleasant surprise about Newell was how well he shot the ball. One of the biggest questions that he faced when he was selected by the Hawks was how well he would shoot the ball, especially from three, but he shot 39% from three, althought it was just on 1.7 attempts per game.

Where Newell really got to shine was getting to play for the College Park Skyhawks, the Hawks G-League affiliate. Newell played in 15 games at the G-League level and averaged 22.2 PPG and 7.7 RPG while shooting 57% from the field and 38% from three in over 32 minutes per game. Newell displayed good shooting touch from there as well and played well around the rim.

The glaring spot that Newell needs to focus on is defense. Newell was not a very good defender when he was on the floor for the Hawks and in his exit interview with the media after the season ended, Newell said that was the top thing that he was planning on working on this summer:

"I want to definitely work on my defense, being able to. Take any matchup, I feel like my size and my length, I'll be able to help disrupt on the defensive side."

Newell has the look of a very good rotational big right now for the Hawks, but he still has room to grow on both ends of the floor and he could play a bigger role on this team next season depending on how things shake out with the roster. It is all about development for him right now and Hawks fans should be pleased with what they saw last season from the former Georgia Bulldog.

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