Atlanta Hawks Trade John Collins to the Utah Jazz

Hawks trade John Collins to Utah

In the NBA you never know what is going to happen. Especially in the offseason as any player could be moved. Even players that are on a bad contract and with the trade that recently happened, it is a clear example. This trade involves John Collins and Rudy Gay and the details of that trade will be below.

Trade Details for John Collins Trade
Atlanta Hawks Acquire: Rudy Gay and a future 2nd Round Pick
Utah Jazz Acquire: John Collins

Atlanta Hawks Side

Is anybody really shocked that the Hawks made the decision to trade Collins? I ask this as it has been rumored for a long time that he was going to be moved. The Hawks wanted to get out of the expensive luxury tax, and see more from younger players like Onyeka Okongwu and Jalen Johnson. 

This trade gives the Hawks much-needed financial flexibility which is going to be important. Shoutout to Bobby Marks as he tweeted the following below that heavily explains why this trade was made.

The Atlanta trade is an example of the new CBA.

Moving money for long term relief that helps build out a roster.

The unintended consequences are that free agents now get squeezed because $25M of cap space in Utah is gone.

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 26, 2023

The New CBA that is on the way is going to give the Hawks much needed relief and I like that they are planning for the future. Heck, the Hawks even got extra draft capital. It might be a second-rounder, but it's better than nothing.

When it comes to Rudy Gay, he is a decent depth option/veteran piece on this team, but it would not shock me if he gets traded.

Utah Jazz Side

Utah, what are you doing? I get you are in the next stage of your rebuild and have a lot of exciting youth & picks for the future (thanks, Minnesota), but why did you acquire a player on a bloated contract and not get assets to take that awful contract?

I get he is younger than Rudy Gay is, but Collins has not been the same player he was earlier in his career. Maybe a change of scenery is needed and Collins could improve, but that is only if Collins can stay healthy.

What Collins does have is time as he has not even entered his prime yet and maybe he can truly stand out next season. I can see him potentially getting more minutes in the starting lineup, maybe, but time will tell on that as with the insane pick collection, maybe another deal is in the works.

Grades for John Collins Trade
Atlanta Hawks: A
Utah Jazz: D+

To me I think the Jazz clearly win this deal. They get much needed cap relief and even had a draft pick thrown into the deal. I want to give this a Billy King (F Grade) for the Utah Jazz, but they got a younger player, Collins still has potential if he is healthy, and will likely be a starter next season. So I decided to be fair and gave the Jazz a D+ in this trade grade..

Overall though great deal for Atlanta Hawks GM Landry Fields and intriguing move for Utah Jazz GM Justin Zanik. No matter what happens, hopefully this trade works out for all parties involved including both organizations and the players involved.

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