The Atlanta Hawks & The NBA Finals Fallout
What the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers NBA Finals runs the last two seasons could mean for the Hawks going forward.
The New York Knicks are your 2025-26 NBA champions. The Knicks were a brilliant team that just closed out a brilliant season. They were a team that reeled off 13 straight playoff wins at one point in their championship run, their first NBA championship since 1973. The core of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Mikal Bridges led the Knicks to a 16-3 postseason record, and that five-man unit finished a fantastic +13.9. From the miraculous comeback win in Game 4 to go up 3-1 against the San Antonio Spurs to the legendary 45-point close-out game performance from Brunson, the Knicks earned their first championship in 53 years.
One interesting footnote about this title run, which will be lost in the archives for every NBA fan outside the Greater Atlanta Area, is that the Atlanta Hawks were the team that bested the Knicks the most. Indeed, Atlanta beat New York twice in their first-round series and went up 2-1 before getting thoroughly pummeled and losing in six games. The only team to beat the NBA champions twice this postseason. After losing Game 3 to the Hawks, the Knicks would not lose another game until Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Something clicked for New York in Game 4 for head coach Mike Brown’s team, and they never looked back.
But there are lessons to be had from the Knicks’ title run for Atlanta. One includes the Knicks, and last year’s Eastern Conference champion, the Indiana Pacers, and their best players: Brunson and Tyrese Haliburton. The latter was named a third-team All-NBA player in 2024-25, and yet, Indiana pushed the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games in last year’s NBA Finals. Brunson, this year’s NBA Finals MVP, has been named a second-team All-NBA player the past three seasons. Even sweeter for Brunson, he was able to knock out both Cade Cunningham’s Detroit Pistons and Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs during his all-time great playoff run, both of whom were named first-team (and first-time) All-NBA players for this season. Neither Brunson nor Haliburton has ever been voted a first-team All-NBA player in their NBA careers, and yet, it hasn’t mattered in the slightest as both have led their teams to the NBA Finals in back-to-back seasons.
This relates to Atlanta in two ways.
First, there is a lot of debate about who Atlanta Hawks President of Basketball Operations Onsi Saleh should take with the No. 8 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. There should be a litany of intriguing guards, and one gigantic big, available when the Hawks make their selection later this month. While all are interesting and talented, none are projected to have the upside or intrigue of AJ Dybantsa or Darryn Peterson. However, Brunson was a second-round selection by the Dallas Mavericks. Haliburton was drafted 12th overall by the Sacramento Kings. Donovan Mitchell, who was a first-team All-NBA player last year and a second-team All-NBA player this year, went 13th in the 2017 NBA Draft. Jamal Murray, who played a gigantic role for the Denver Nuggets’ championship in 2023, went 7th overall in the 2016 NBA Draft. Point being, whether it’s Mikel Brown Jr., Keaton Wagler, Darius Acuff Jr., or Kingston Flemings, if Atlanta takes a guard at No. 8 rather than No. 1 or No. 2, the Hawks could still find a future All-NBA player in that spot.
Secondly, both the Knicks and the Pacers knew what they had in Brunson and Haliburton and went for it. New York made bold trades for both Towns and Bridges in a commendable effort to surround Brunson with the best pieces possible to try and win a championship during his prime. Indiana traded for Pascal Siakam. Both had two quality bigs who flourished in their roles, Towns and Robinson for New York, and Myles Turner and Thomas Bryant for Indiana. They were Super Teams, but with an emphasis on the ‘team’ part. The New York and Indiana front offices just built two fantastic teams that proved to complement their star lead guards.
For Atlanta, do you look at the success of just building around Your Guy, even if you’re not certain they’ll ever be top-5 or even top-10 players in the Association, and change gears with Jalen Johnson? More specifically, with Johnson turning 25 in December, do you look to take guys at No. 8 and No. 23 who you feel can best supercharge the roster around your own third-team All-NBA player? Johnson might not be a lead guard like Brunson or Haliburton, but he is a point forward poised to become a multi-time All-NBA player who just had a 23/10/8 season in his breakout year. For Saleh, has Johnson shown you enough to push you towards building the best possible contender around a player with Johnson’s skillset? Ultimately, should the focus in Atlanta for the next two to three seasons be defined by what Johnson can ultimately be and by what Saleh concoction of role players he can ultimately surround his do-it-all forward with?
With eight different champions across eight seasons, parity is at an all-time high in the NBA. If you’re Atlanta, you have a franchise cornerstone who may not be a perennial first-team All-NBA player like Shai-Gilgeous Alexander or Wembanyama. However, he could be like a Brunson or a Haliburton, a perennial second- or third-team All-NBA player. We came very close to those two guys winning it all the last two seasons in the NBA.
The Hawks were 27-16 after dealing former franchise cornerstone Trae Young to the Washington Wizards this season. From February 1 to the end of the regular season, the Hawks were 6th in the NBA in point differential, one spot ahead of the Knicks, per CleaningTheGlass. From the tenth of February to the end of the regular season, the Hawks were 3rd in point differential.
That’s pretty, pretty good.
Atlanta’s current roster makeup is both strong and intriguing. They have big offseason decisions to make on CJ McCollum, Jonathan Kuminga, Zaccharie Risacher, among a few others, but Atlanta’s core of Johnson, Dyson Daniels, and Oneyaka Okongwu is a solid foundation. Quin Snyder is a good NBA head coach, and the team just locked him up to a multi-year extension. Perhaps Saleh packages No. 8 and No. 23 to move up. Perhaps Year 2 Asa Newell is a helpful rotation big next year who provides a different and effective look for opposing bigs. Perhaps Kuminga, after a full offseason with the team, takes a big step next year.
The Hawks proved to be an excellent basketball team from February on this year. While a lot of fans might think the Hawks are still looking for their guy to guide them to the NBA Finals, he might already be on the roster in Johnson, who might already be the best overall player, or certainly has the highest upside, for the franchise since Dominque Wilkins. Atlanta, like New York and Indiana, might already have its overlooked star who can ultimately guide the franchise to where they want to go. The Knicks and Pacers built around Their Guy in this era of extreme parity at the top. Will the Hawks do the same around Their Guy?