In a surprise move Monday afternoon, the Hawks traded F/C, John Collins, to the Utah Jazz in exchange for forward, Rudy Gay, and a future second-round pick. First reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Collins was rumored in trades by Atlanta for what now seems the past three or four seasons. The Hawks will be offloading the remaining three years, $78M of Collins’ contract. Atlanta will now have the largest trade exception in the league at $25.3 million. For league purposes, this trade will not be official till July 6th.
Gay will exercise his $6.5 million player option for next season, allowing the Hawks to drop far below the $182.5 million second apron and below the $165 million luxury tax threshold for the 2023-24 season. This also allows Atlanta to look into extensions for a couple of their younger pieces, i.e. DeJounte Murray or Onyeka Okongwu.
Collins has spent his entire tenure with Atlanta, after being selected19th overall in the 2017 NBA draft. Collins boasts career-averages of 15.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
