The Hawks Find Themselves in an All Too Familiar Position Heading Into the All-Star Break

Atlanta is well below .500 and trending towards another play-in spot

The Hawks played their final game last night before this year's All-Star Break and it was not the way they wanted to go into the break. 

Yes, they were without their top two centers, but the Hawks were playing a really bad Charlotte team and lost by 22 points. The Hornets had not beaten a team by double-digits all year until last night and it looked like the Hawks were looking more towards being on break than interested in beating the Hornets. 

Now, the Hawks are 24-31, on a two-game losing streak, and almost certainly heading toward the play-in tournament. The Hawks are still in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, two games behind the Bulls (who own the tiebreaker) and six games behind the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat, who are in 7th and 8th place. Never say never, but it is highly unlikely the Hawks can catch either of those teams. If they are not caught by Brooklyn for the 10th spot, the Hawks will have to win two games just to earn a first-round date with the Boston Celtics, who are on track to be one of the best NBA teams in recent memory. 

Not long ago, it looked like the Hawks might be turning a bit of a corner this season. They strung together wins against the Lakers, Suns, and Warriors, and almost beat the Clippers and Celtics. Atlanta was clicking on offense and was getting healthy at the right time and appeared to be turning a bit of a corner. They decided to keep the team as it was at the trade deadline and not make any moves. 

Hornets forward Grant Williams vs the Hawks / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Since they made the Eastern Conference Finals after the 2020-2021 season, the Hawks have been in the NBA play-in Tournament each season and they have lost in the first round after winning in the play-in tournament each season. 

It is starting to feel like Atlanta is heading toward an inevitable conclusion. 

The Hawks's defense is not getting any better and while their offense can be very good on any given night, it is not consistent. They were only able to score 99 points against a bad Charlotte team last night and frankly looked disinterested in playing. 

The few good things you could say about where Atlanta is right now is that they can still get healthier. Their top eight of Young, Dejounte Murray, Saddiq Bey, Jalen Johnson, Clint Capela, Onyeka Okongwu, De'Andre Hunter, and Bogdan Bogdanovic have rarely been healthy at the same time this year and that would be a big boost. 

How the Hawks play after the All-Star break will likely determine how this summer is going to go for the team. There are going to be countless rumors about the Hawks and what they may or may not do to shake up their roster. Right now, it feels like they are heading towards the same fate as previous seasons. 

Three Takeaways From Hawks 122-99 Loss to Charlotte

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