Three Priority Atlanta Hawks Trade Targets Nobody is Talking About

The Atlanta Hawks enter the 2026 offseason with some optimism about what they were able to do this season, but also with plenty of things to improve on after their first-round loss to the New York Knicks.

Atlanta has a good core of four players (Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Onyeka Okongwu, and Dyson Daniels), an incoming lottery pick that could be the No. 1 pick depending on how the lottery goes on Sunday, and ways to create cap space to continue to build this team into a contender.

Last offseason, Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh made some smart moves at a good cost. Signing Nickeil Alexander-Walker was arguably the top signing of the entire offseason, and while the move to get Kristaps Porzingis did not work out as the team had hoped, the cost was low (they got off the Terance Mann contract), and they turned Porzingis into Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield.

While I don't think the Hawks are going to go all in on a trade for a superstar such as Giannis Antetokounmpo (at least according to Saleh), there could be deals out there that would improve the Hawks and not be costly.

Let's breakdown three trade candidates I don't think are being talked about enough.

1. Rockets center Steven Adams

One of the Hawks biggest issues this past season was size and depth at center and that affected their rebounding. Onyeka Okongwu had arguably the best season of his career, but the Hawks have been looking for someone to pair with him to give them more flexibility for different matcups, hence the Porzingis trade last summer.

Adams is coming off a season ending injury and keep in mind there is no indication that the Rockets are going to move him, but since they lost in the first round again, anything could be on the table.

If Adams was available though, the Hawks should pounce. Adams had an absurd 20.1% offensive rebounding rate per Cleaning the Glass and would be a huge boost to the Hawks. Now, he is coming off an injury and is not getting any younger, but is on a fine contract and would not be expensive from an asset perspective in a trade.

2. Kings guard Malik Monk

Aside from the issues that I outlined above with the rebounding, size and frontcourt depth, another issue the Hawks ran into in the postseason is their bench play and shot creation in the halfcourt. They are a great transition team, but when it came down to getting a key bucket in games, they were overreliant on CJ McCollum.

Malik Monk would help fix both issues and it is no secret the Kings are open for business.

Per Cleaning the Glass, the Kings offense was 2.3 points better per 100 possessions with Monk on the court and he averaged 12.5 PPG and shot 39.5% from three on 5.1 attempts per game. He would have one year left on his deal and then a player option for 2027-2028. For the right price, the Hawks should be interested.

3. Mavs guard Kyrie Irving

Can you imagine if the Hawks replaced CJ McCollum with Kyrie Irving?

McCollum was great for the team this past season and there is reported interest between the two parties on a deal to return to Atlanta, but if the Mavericks wanted to deal Irving and the price. was right, this would be an upgrade for the Hawks and would make them much more formidable.

Now, there has been no indication that Irving is available and with Dallas not controlling their own draft pick next year, they have no real incentive to trade him unless he wants to be traded. He did not play this past season while recovering from an ACL tear and he is obviously an older player, so it would come with risk.

While the Hawks insist they are not one player away and they want to focus on development, they should check in on Irving to see if he is available for a low enough asking price.

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