Yep, everyone just assumed the Hawks were going to roll over and die “with no way to improve their team” and “no choice but to deal Trae and bottom out”. Lo and behold… they’ve gone out and improved their team.
Just goes to show (and someone recently bumped the thread I did on this a year ago), that most picks acquired via trade well in advance don’t convey into top lotto picks. NBA teams aren’t run by complete morons (though sometimes it looks like they are), and it is easy enough to get into play-in range if you just run your organization even semi-decently. There will always been enough teams tanking below you if you yourself need to avoid tanking.
FRPs are still FRPs though, and you never know what might happen… I’m glad we have that pick and that swap, but I’m not counting on landing our next core piece with them (which is fine).
Atlanta will be low key fun to watch next season.