The Atlanta Hawks are really going for it. They have given free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic an offer sheet worth $72 million over four years, with a player option on the final season, according to The Athletic. In an effort to discourage the Sacramento Kings from matching it, the contract includes a 15 percent trade kicker to be paid by the team trading him away, per the New York Times’ Marc Stein.
If the Kings do not match — and, as The Athletic’s Sam Amick pointed out, Atlanta would not have done this if it thought they would — then Bogdanovic will join Danilo Gallinari (three years, $61.5 million), Rajon Rondo (two years, $15 million) and Kris Dunn (two years, $10 million, player option) on a roster that is designed to win a lot more games than the Hawks have in recent years.
Whatever you think about Atlanta’s super-aggressive playoff push, adding Bogdanovic would give the team an abundance of firepower. Between him, Kevin Huerter and Gallinari, the Hawks would have numerous scoring threats who can simultaneously relieve some of Trae Young’s playmaking burden and space the floor for him. Young was phenomenal last season, but he had to dominate the ball and deal with defenses that didn’t respect his teammates’ shooting. That will be different this coming season, and, in a perfect world, the presence of these other weapons will encourage Young to develop his off-the-ball game.
Should Sacramento let Bogdanovic go, there will be trickle-down effects on the rest of Atlanta’s roster. He duplicates much of what the 22-year-old Huerter brings to the table, and he’ll surely take some of his minutes. De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish, the Nos. 4 and 10 picks, respectively, in the 2019 draft, will have to earn every bit of playing time they get. There is also the question of what will happen with 23-year-old big man John Collins, who will be a restricted free agent next summer if he and the Hawks can’t agree to an extension in the next few weeks. If they signed Gallinari to be their starting power forward, then Collins could be moved for yet another wing.
When the Kings elected not to trade Bogdanovic at the deadline in February, it was widely assumed that they intended to re-sign him (and likely trade guard Buddy Hield). Since then, though, they’ve replaced general manager Vlade Divac with former Houston Rockets executive Monte McNair. It’s unclear what will happen with Hield, but on Wednesday the new front office drafted guard Tyrese Haliburton, an ideal complement to De’Aaron Fox in the backcourt. If Bogdanovic is indeed Atlanta-bound and Sacramento can’t salvage a sign-and-trade out of this situation, then the presence of Haliburton will make his departure easier to stomach.
