Hawks offseason recap and early season preview: The post-Trae era is underway

The Atlanta Hawks are entering the first full season of the post-Trae Young era with heightened expectations. After dealing their star point guard away last season, they've also moved on from 2024 No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher and brought in role players Aaron Wiggins, Ryan Nembhard and Luguentz Dort to strengthen their depth. CJ McCollum, the hero of their two first-round playoff wins against the eventual champion New York Knicks, is back as well, with Kingston Flemings, the No. 8 pick in the 2026 draft, backing him up. ESPN's staff of experts is looking back at the offseason and taking an early look at the 2026-27 season for all 30 teams, with 30 pieces -- one for every team -- rolling out each weekday through Sept. 18. We're answering the biggest looming questions, evaluating X factors and much more for all 30 teams. Quick links: Roster | Depth chart | Transactions More Hawks coverage | More NBA Offseason at a glance Key additions: Luguentz Dort, Aaron Wiggins, Kingston Flemings, Devin Carter, Ryan Nembhard, Zuby Ejiofor, Henri Veesaar Key retentions: CJ McCollum, Jock Landale Key subtractions: Zaccharie Risacher, Jonathan Kuminga, Gabe Vincent, Keaton Wallace Atlanta continued to move forward from the Trae Young trade last season by being opportunistic this offseason. The Hawks acquired Dort and Wiggins in separate trades from the Oklahoma City Thunder to add more help around emerging star Jalen Johnson. The Hawks also kept McCollum on a one-year, $21 million deal and drafted Flemings eighth overall. Atlanta is loaded with young wings looking to take a step forward under Quin Snyder like Nickeil Alexander-Walker did last season in winning Most Improved Player. -- Ohm Youngmisuk Zach Kram's offseason grade: A- Depending on how coach Quin Snyder structures his rotation, the Hawks might not have added a single starter this offseason -- although they did well to re-sign CJ McCollum to a solid one-year deal -- so their short-term ceiling still relies on Jalen Johnson's development into a star. They made fairly dramatic upgrades to their bench, however, to meaningfully raise their floor. They acquired Luguentz Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Devin Carter in salary dump trades, as well as Ryan Nembhard to help stabilize the backcourt. -- Kram What we learned over the past few months From Ben Golliver's offseason lessons piece: Zaccharie Risacher was the biggest draft miss in years. Evidently, Onsi Saleh, who was promoted to general manager last summer, had seen enough. The 46-win Hawks were better with Risacher off the court last season, and he seemingly lacks the burst, playmaking and takeover mentality to develop into a lead scoring option. While the 2024 draft was regarded as weak at the time, Risacher ranks 20th in his class by career win shares and has been outperformed by Stephon Castle and several other lottery picks, plus a few players drafted 20-plus spots after him, including Baylor Scheierman, Kyle Filipowski and Oso Ighodaro. Risacher's value dropped to the point that the Hawks didn't recoup a first-round pick in their three-team trade with the Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder. Instead, they added guards Luguentz Dort and Ryan Nembhard as they continue to build out their depth in the post-Trae Young era. -- Golliver The big question: Can Johnson take the next step and win a playoff series? Johnson averaged 22.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.9 assists last season when Atlanta pivoted from Young and handed over the keys to the franchise to the versatile 6-8 forward. Johnson made the All-Star team and helped Atlanta become the only team to take two games off the eventual champion Knicks. But they also blew a 2-1 lead by losing three straight, including suffering an embarrassing 140-89 loss in Game 6 to New York. That should have left a lasting bitter taste for the Hawks all offseason and motivate Johnson to show he can take another step forward and lead the Hawks to a playoff series victory as their main star. -- Youngmisuk Basketball Power Index rank: No. 17 Here are the predicted Net Points per 100 possessions for the Hawks' top seven players for the 2026-27 season: The Hawks' starting unit last year was the second-best unit in the league (at least 400 possessions together). The Hornets' was best and they broke it up; Atlanta is sticking with it (unless rumors of Dort starting are true). The Hawks were 19-21 and ninth in the East before acquiring a key part of that lineup in CJ McCollum. They were 27-15 the rest of the way and beat the Knicks twice in the playoffs. -- Dean Oliver Read about how Net Points works here. Biggest X factor The Hawks are bursting with perimeter depth after trading for Dort and Wiggins, drafting Flemings and re-signing McCollum to a one-year deal. But Jock Landale -- a fine backup but not remotely a quality NBA starter -- provides the only depth at center, which means the starter, Okongwu, has a great deal of responsibility resting on his shoulders. Okongwu developed into a capable stretch big last season, making 38% of his 5.2 3-point attempts per game. But he still needs to gain more scoring efficiency overall, as well as serve as a strong backline defender behind Dort, Dyson Daniels and the rest of Atlanta's perimeter stoppers. -- Kram Betting insight from our expert Bet to make ahead of the season: To make playoffs (-145), to win Southeast Division (+320) The Hawks traded Trae Young on Jan. 7, and after that trade finished with a 29-15 regular-season record that was the seventhbest in the NBA in that span. The Hawks then went up 2-1 on the eventual champion Knicks in the playoffs, the only team to win two games against New York during the playoffs. The Hawks return their core that finished the season, led by budding star Jalen Johnson, and supplemented that with two contributors from the Oklahoma City Thunder championship team (Dort and Wiggins) as well as a lottery pick in Flemings. They seem poised to continue and improve upon their strong finish in the upcoming campaign. -- Andre' Snellings Odds by DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publication.