The Atlanta Hawks have been trying to trade John Collins — or, more accurately, Collins’ salary — for going on two years, but no team was willing to offer enough value in return to make a deal happen.
Enter the new CBA. Fear of the tax apron — and a rumored push from ownership to get below the luxury tax line — had Atlanta finding a trade that sends Collins to the Utah Jazz for Rudy Gay, a story broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
ESPN Sources: The Hawks are finalizing a trade to send F/C John Collins to the Jazz for Rudy Gay and a future second-round pick. Atlanta’s largely unloading Collins’ three years, $78M for some roster building flexibility and alignment with looming changes to salary cap. pic.twitter.com/CpAfTNXKMq
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 26, 2023
This trade cannot officially happen until after July 6, just to make the salary matching work. Gay opted into his $6.4 million for next season and will be absorbed into an existing trade exception (and create a new $25 million trade exception they can use to hunt talent).
This trade is a good gamble by Danny Ainge and the Jazz, who are still in the talent acquisition phase of their rebuild and essentially get Collins for free (Gay was not part of the future plans in Utah). Collins has skills, even if he is overpaid. While he struggled last season (13.1 points per game shooting 29.2% from 3) he is an athletic, bouncy four who averaged 16.2 points and 7.8 rebounds a game two seasons ago while shooting 36.4% from 3. Collins and just drafted Taylor Hendricks can split time at the four next to Walker Kessler, forming an interesting and big front line with Lauri Markkanen at the three.
The Hawks save money and take one piece off the board for new coach Quin Snyder, who comes in ready to implement a new system (something he couldn’t really pull off taking over in the middle of last season).
