Atlanta Hawks Reportedly Interested In Trading For NBA Champion

According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports, the Atlanta Hawks are interested in NBA Champion Pascal Siakam (Toronto Raptors).

On June 22, the 2023 NBA Draft will take place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

In addition to the new players being selected into the NBA, the night typically features many trades around the league.

Therefore, it's one of the biggest days of the offseason.

With the Draft less than a week away, rumors around the league have picked up significantly.

On Friday, Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports reported that the Atlanta Hawks have an interest in Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam.

The 2019 NBA Champion is 29 years old and has spent his entire seven-year career with the Raptors.  

Via Fischer's article on Yahoo! Sports: "One player believed to be on the Hawks’ radar of potential trade targets is Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, sources said, and Toronto marks another team front offices are closely monitoring for trade activity."

Latest notebook @YahooSports features what San Antonio is considering after selecting Victor Wembanyama No. 1, the latest on Chris Paul and Phoenix, plus details on Boston, Atlanta, Toronto and more: https://t.co/M11ohaafY0

— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) June 16, 2023

Siakam is coming off a fantastic year where he made his second career NBA All-Star Game. 

The former first-round pick averaged 24.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists per contest while shooting 48.0% from the field. 

However, the Raptors went 41-41 and finished as the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference. 

They lost to the Chicago Bulls in the first game of the play-in tournament, so they did not make the 2023 NBA Playoffs. 

As for the Hawks, they defeated the Miami Heat in the play-in tournament but lost to the Boston Celtics in the first round of the Playoffs (in six games). 

The franchise has made the Playoffs three years in a row, and in 2021 they went to the Eastern Conference Finals.