Don’t worry about Hawks not making major moves like Heat, Raptors, Sixers

It shouldn’t be a big worry.

Steady improvement by the Hawks should be enough for them to climb into the East’s top four in 2026-27.

The Hawks finished sixth in the East last season. They were 19-5 after coach Quin Snyder changed the starting lineup and fully integrated veteran newcomers into the rotation.

It’s reasonable to believe that All-NBA Hawks forward Jalen Johnson and others will raise their level after the Knicks showed them the gap between a good team and a contender. The Hawks won’t improve in one year to get on New York’s level.

The idea is to finish higher in the East and get at least one home playoff series while avoiding the Knicks, Raptors and 76ers in the first round. The Raps are going to be better with Leonard, and the Sixers will get a big net gain from swapping declining Paul George for All-NBA wing Brown.

The Hawks can emerge as the best of the rest of the East. Yes, that includes Miami. It’s foolish to underestimate Erik Spoelstra — no coach gets more out of their roster — but I don’t see Antetokounmpo making the Heat contenders.

Antetokounmpo is a top-five player when healthy. But he played just 36 games last season, and it’s been a long time since he made it through an entire playoff series. That’s always going to be an issue because of his physical style.

Antetokounmpo also is an awkward fit alongside Adebayo. They are both bruising forwards who like to hunt shots in the midrange area of the court. How is that going to work?

To get Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis Jr., the Heat gave up four players who fit well with Adebayo: Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kel’el Ware. That’s a lot of depth, shooting and size out the door. Pat Riley will never stop pushing in his chips, but he’ll only have about $16.5 million to add at least three more players to fill out the roster.

The Celtics took a hit to their reputation as a well-run franchise with the Brown debacle. They boxed themselves in when they offered him in trade for Antetokounmpo and didn’t get the deal done. They ended up sending him away for George, who has looked washed up for the past two seasons.

While all of that was happening in the East, the Hawks have had a relatively quiet start to the offseason. They retained veteran guard CJ McCollum (one year, $21 million) and center Jock Landale (one year, $14 million). They traded for wing Aaron Wiggins and guard Devin Carter.

McCollum is likely to begin the season as a starter. Landale and Wiggins figure to be part of the second unit. Carter projects to be the third point guard.

The East teams other than those involved in the blockbuster trades are sticking close to the status quo, like the Hawks.

That’s fine for the Knicks. They just had to keep their championship team together. The only significant defector was free-agent center Mitchell Robinson, who is signing with the Celtics.

The Pistons haven’t done much with their massive cap space (they’ll probably retain restricted free-agent center Jalen Duren now that his market has dried up). The Cavaliers don’t have the flexibility to make a major move unless LeBron James decides to come home for cheap.

The Hawks aren’t necessarily done making deals. They have one open roster spot and roughly $13 million in space below the luxury tax line after declining Jonathan Kuminga’s contract option and agreeing to sign Landale.

But president of basketball operations Onsi Saleh has repeatedly said that most improvement would have to happen internally. So, unless something unexpected happens this summer to make Saleh change course, his team’s ceiling will have to be raised from the inside.

The Hawks need skill (and strength) development from Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Zaccharie Risacher and Asa Newell. Snyder needs to get more grit from his group to supplement its run-and-gun style. The development of rookies Kingston Flemings, Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar will be key.

Counting on steady improvement may sound boring compared to the big splashes made by the Heat, Raptors and Sixers. But if that happens for the Hawks, then I think it will be enough for them to climb higher in the East.

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