Hawks Seeking Lottery Pick for John Collins

The Atlanta Hawks may not be actively shopping forward John Collins, but they are apparently not turning away any suitors and have even established an asking price to part with the young forward.

According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Hawks have sought “a high first-round, lottery-level” draft pick in exchange for the 23-year old Collins, who isn’t far away from entering restricted free agency.

Collins doesn’t seem to be too thrilled with the organization focusing on Trae Young as their franchise cornerstone, and with Collins likely lined up for a significant pay raise this upcoming offseason, Atlanta may look to cut bait now and get value.

Should the Hawks opt not to trade Collins, they would have some tough financial decisions to make this offseason as Collins will likely fetch an lucrative offer sheet in the market, which would force Atlanta’s hand.

According to The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner and Sam Amick (back in January of this year), Collins believes that he is a max-salary caliber player and declined the Hawks offer of a $90 million contract extension.

Collins is averaging 18.1 points and 7.8 rebounds per game for the Hawks this season.