The 2024-25 Atlanta Hawks’ Season Preview
September 7th, 2024
by Alan Lu
The Atlanta Hawks had a disastrous 2024 season in which they failed to make the playoffs. They traded Dejounte Murray in the offseason to split up the guard pairing, and they’ve seemed admit that their star guard pairing with him and Trae Young didn’t work. For the Hawks, their star guard Trae Young will be returning, and they’ll be looking to capture the 2021 playoff magic that had them beat Joel Embiid’s Philadelphia 76ers and make a run to the Eastern Conference Finals under head coach Nate McMillan.
But in the NBA, that might as well be a long time ago, because McMillan is gone, and Quin Snyder is now the coach. In addition, once promising swingman AJ Griffin had a disastrous second season with the Hawks, and they dealt him to Houston for a pair of second round picks. They added some quality rotation players in a trade with New Orleans in getting Dyson Daniels and Larry Nance Jr., and the Hawks will be hoping that bolstering their defense and depth will be enough to get them back to the postseason in 2025.
Will the Atlanta Hawks make it to the playoffs in 2025? They could, but they need to do much better than how they fared in 2024, and they’ll need to be a much better defensive team. (Photo: Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire, via ESPN)
Star Players:
Trae Young is a very skilled point guard that can shoot from anywhere, and is gifted at making plays with the ball in his hands. For him to reach the next level to become elite rather than stay as a very good point guard, Young will need to improve his defense and show a willingness to move off the ball on offense, and he’ll need to help his team become contenders again.
Also, Jalen Johnson looks to be very close to being a star player, and he had a breakout season in 2024, as he is a high-flying, athletic combo forward who improved his jump shot immensely, and is a rangy defender that can guard multiple positions.
Additions:
G-F Dyson Daniels, F Larry Nance Jr., F Zaccharie Risacher, F Dominick Barlow, G-F David Roddy, and C Cody Zeller
The Hawks were able to snag a couple of solid role players from the Pelicans, and acquiring Daniels and Nance will bolster their depth and strengthen their defense. Daniels will add a playmaking dimension, and Nance is an energetic combo forward that should thrive in a 3 and D role. Zaccharie Risacher is a very tall, smooth rookie swingman that had an outstanding season overseas, and he is a versatile player that can do a little bit of everything. He didn’t have a great summer league, but that shouldn’t zap the Hawks’ fans enthusiasm from the rookie they received in this draft, even if other rookies on other teams impressed more. Also, the Hawks were able to get some players that could challenge for backend rotation roles on this team.
Subtractions:
G Dejounte Murray, F Saddiq Bey, G-F AJ Griffin, G-F Wesley Matthews, C Bruno Fernando, and G Trent Forrest
After two seasons of having Young and Murray together, the Hawks called it quits on the Young and Murray backcourt experiment after the Hawks went 36-46 and lost in the play-in tournament in 2024, which effectively had the Hawks miss the playoffs. It’s a shame it didn’t work out, because it sounded okay on paper, as both are star guards, with Murray carrying more of a defensive reputation, but the Hawks ended up being a bad defensive team last season, as they were 27th in team defensive rating (119.4).
They also lost a slew of 3 and D role players, but the most troubling was the descent of AJ Griffin in terms of his overall performance, as they really seemed to have botched his development, with Griffin often seemingly finding himself in Snyder’s doghouse and out of the rotation. Griffin went from being a solid role player as a rookie to not even being a rotation-caliber player in the NBA in his second season, as a startling lack of minutes and woeful shooting percentages led the Atlanta brass to pull the plug on the idea of having him on the team, and they sent him packing in a trade to Houston.
Rookies:
Risacher is a very tall, athletic smooth swingman with a solid set of all-around skills, and he was very good overseas in 2024, but his apparent lack of dominant play and lukewarm Summer League showing has the internet divided on how impactful he’ll be in this league, on whether or not if he’s a future All-Star akin to a Khris Middleton-type, or if he’s more along the lines of a solid role player similar to that of a Harrison Barnes/Andrew Wiggins type of player. Regardless, he’s expected to contribute to the Hawks’ rotation, and Risacher should contend for a spot on one of the two All-Rookie teams in 2025.
Expected Rotation:
Despite playing just 56 games, Jalen Johnson posted season bests of 16 points per game, 8.7 rebounds per game, and 3.6 assists per game, and he made 51% from the field and 35.5% of his three-pointers during the 2023-24 season, and he could be a rising star in the making.
(Photo: Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports, via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Projected Starting Lineup:
Trae Young is a star point guard that likes to dominate the basketball, and he will be the focal point of their offense. Clint Capela has been solid, but their offense doesn’t flow together, also because they are very heliocentric, as they play in a turn-based offense, and Young has been said to be reluctant to play off the ball. The Hawks will have a talented group of starters, but will need to find a way to take the leap to help their team ascend to the next level.
Key Bench Players:
Dyson Daniels is the newest member of the Atlanta Hawks, and his playmaking and defense could prove to be valuable assets to this team. (Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA Today Sports, via Yardbarker)
G-F Dyson Daniels
G-F Vit Krejci
The Rest of the Roster:
G-F David Roddy
F Dominick Barlow (Two-Way)
G Keaton Wallace (Two-Way)
G-F Seth Lundy (Two-Way)
Team Options at the End of the 2025 Season:
Here I will project the likelihood of the Toronto Raptors to pick up and accept or decline the team options for various players at the end of the 2025 season.
Dyson Daniels – Team Option Will Likely Be Accepted (100% Certainty)
Kobe Bufkin – 50/50, Leaning Towards It Will Be Declined (50% Certainty)
David Roddy – 50/50, Leaning Towards It Will Be Declined (50% Certainty)
Head Coach:
Quin Snyder was hired to be the Atlanta Hawks midway through 2023, but after reaching the playoffs in 2023, the Hawks missed the playoffs in 2024.
(Photo: John Bazemore/The Associated Press, via via The Salt Lake Tribune)
Quin Snyder
2023-24 (ATL): 36-46, missed in the playoffs
Coaching Career: 418-321, 23-34 in the NBA Playoffs
After helping to lead his team to the first round of the playoffs in 2023, Snyder and the Hawks had a massively disappointing 2024 season in which they went 36-46 and lost in the play-in tournament, as they were eliminated from playoff contention and missed the playoffs. Also, AJ Griffin went from having a solid rookie season to having a terrible second season, and his value plummeted so quickly that the Hawks just sold him off for a pair of second round picks.
On the bright side, Jalen Johnson really developed quickly, but the Hawks underachieved as a collective in 2024, and they missed the playoffs despite having considerable talent. They ended up trading Dejounte Murray in a bid to change their fortunes this season, but only time will tell to see if the Hawks can reclaim their past magic and maybe make it to the playoffs in 2025.
NBA Head Coach Rank: 27
Outlook:
The Hawks’ newest first overall pick, Zaccharie Risacher will be looking to make an impact on the floor after having a strong French League and Euroleague season in 2024, but his lukewarm Summer League showing could make Hawks’ fans nervous about how he will perform in 2025.
(Photo: David Becker/Associated Press, via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Back in 2021, the Atlanta Hawks had pulled off the unthinkable, which was to defeat Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers in a playoff series that sent them to the Eastern Conference Finals under star point guard Trae Young and then head coach, Nate McMillan. Two plus years later, Nate McMillan was fired and is no longer on their team, and the Hawks haven’t made it out of the first round since.
It will be up to head coach Quin Snyder to help lead this team to a playoff run, and they are looking for expected gains from their younger players, Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels. On the other hand, they will have to implement more flow into their offense, and they will need Young to help lead his teammates and to be a better team leader. Otherwise, in a tough Eastern Conference, if things don’t change, they could end up running in place and end up being a bubble playoff team in 2025.
Projected 2024-25 Finish:
Expected Win-Loss Record: 37-45
Projected Regular Season Finish: 9th in the Eastern Conference
Expected Playoff Finish: Projected to lose in the play-in tournament and miss the playoffs
Preseason NBA Power Ranking: 19
I went to Basketball-Reference and SalarySwish to look up some information for this write-up. It will be an exciting basketball season this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the season will unfold. Anyways, that is my write-up on my preview of the 2024-25 Atlanta Hawks. Thanks for reading.