3 Thoughts On The Atlanta Hawks Getting The No. 8 Pick
There are a number of different ways Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh could go with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Before Sunday afternoon’s NBA Draft Lottery event, the Atlanta Hawks had the best odds at landing the No. 8 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. After leaving Sunday afternoon’s NBA Draft Lottery event, the Hawks landed the No. 8 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
It’s an undeniable bummer for Hawks fans, but it wasn’t a devastating development Sunday afternoon like it was for the Indiana Pacers or the Brooklyn Nets.
There is plenty of time to write about who the Hawks should target with the No. 8 overall pick, but for now, I thought it’d be best to simply write my three biggest reaction thoughts coming out of Sunday afternoon’s developments.
Let’s start with the biggest positive: the reason the Hawks were even in a position to be drafting this high after winning 47 games this season is that Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh fleeced the New Orleans Pelicans front office a season ago in a trade that ultimately netted the Hawks Asa Newell and the better of the Pels and Milwaukee Bucks pick in this year’s draft for the latter to move from pick no. 23 to pick no. 13 and take Derik Queen.
There were no guarantees where that NBA lottery pick would ultimately land for the Hawks, though. The Hawks prepared for this opportunity to capitalize on a bit of lottery luck, were it to find them this year. Their process for the last year has been sound: trading Trae Young, trading the No. 13 pick for No. 23 and a 2026 unprotected lottery pick, acquiring Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Kristaps Porzingis, and re-signing Dyson Daniels to a team-friendly extension. All of which were very smart moves in Saleh’s first season as the lead decision-maker for the Hawks.
It’s not Saleh’s or the Hawks’ fault that their lottery luck came in perhaps the worst year possible this century. Obviously, sneaking into the No. 1 overall pick in 2026 rather than 2024 would have been the preferred result for the Hawks, but that is not what happened.
Saleh, who just finished as a runner-up for the NBA Executive of the Year award, has hit a lot more than he has missed in his first season. His trade with the Pelicans last summer was a great one, even with the pick ultimately landing at No. 8. Both things can be true.
Second, with the eighth pick, the Hawks will need to take a lead ballhandler to eventually replace CJ McCollum or a big man to share minutes with Oneyka Okongwu. It’s early, but the NBA Draft Knowers seem to be mocking former Louisville one-and-done guard Mikel Brown Jr. to the Hawks, which makes a bunch of sense. The most realistic options seem to be some combination of Houston guard Kingston Flemings, Michigan big Aday Mara, fellow Michigan big Yaxel Lendeborg, Tennessee wing Nate Ament, and Arizona wing Brayden Burries.
The most important thing is that the Hawks will be able to add a really good prospect at No. 8 who can help them in one of those two ways. The absence of Porzingis for much of the regular season was a major problem for Atlanta, and the same was true with the absence of Jock Londale in the team’s first-round series with the New York Knicks. McCollum was a key part of Atlanta’s dominant five-man starting lineup down the stretch of the regular season. His struggles in the series against the Knicks also shone a bright light on what Atlanta needed help with going into next season. In a perfect offseason, McCollum returns and Londale returns, as both proved to be fantastic fits for head coach Quin Snyder’s team. They just need additional reinforcements. Perhaps that’s just a year older Asa Newell inside and a guard like Flemings or Brown Jr.?
That’s why an Ament or a Burries would be harder to see than a Flemings, Brown Jr., or Mara. Atlanta already has a logjam of unproven long-term answers there between Zaccharie Risacher and Jonathan Kuminga, along with Corey Kispert’s contract. You also learned that Dyson Daniels, who does everything well except shoot threes, and Alexander-Walker, who just won Most Improved Player of the Year, are two core guys on great contracts with the team, along with Johnson and Okongwu. If Saleh strictly goes best player available at No. 8 and on Atlanta’s board that player happens to be another wing, I would understand making the selection. However, it would also really complicate things with the roster, particularly in that one area.
Lastly, there is a bit of additional pressure on Saleh here. With Atlanta winning 47 games a season ago and a large portion of their core locked up on fantastic contracts for the next several seasons, this could be the last time Atlanta is drafting this high for a while, even with the pending NBA Lottery reform. (Unless New Orleans or Sacramento calls, then you never know.) Whether it’s Brown Jr., Flemings, or Mara, or whoever, they really need to hit. With the uncertainty surrounding what Risacher is or can still be going into Year 3, it’d be huge for the franchise if they can add one more key high-lottery piece to their young, fun core of players in Johnson, Daniels, Okongwu, and Alexander-Walker. If you nail this pick, you worry about what Kuminga or Risacher are or could still become less. You’ve just got to nail this pick because Atlanta is very close to another run of sustained success if the team can find one more long-term answer at No. 8 to pair with that five-man lineup that was a +21.4 per 100 possessions last season.
It can happen.