[brid autoplay=”true” video=”789506″ player=”23231″ title=”NBA%20MVP%20Race%20202122%20The%20old%20and%20the%20young%20converge” duration=”53″ description=”With the 2020-21 regular season now a thing of the past, we saw injuries impact some of the game’s best players. It will impact the NBA MVP race once the final votes are tallied. Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid are the three finalists for the award. It will be announced in June with Jokic being the heavy favorite.This got us thinking about the top candidates for the 2021-22 NBA MVP award. Sure some of these names will remain unchanged. But there’s a number of young players set to take major steps forward next season. Below, we provide you with our early NBA MVP rankings for the 2021-22 campaign.” uploaddate=”2021-05-27″ thumbnailurl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/thumb/789506_t_1622082648.png” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/sd/789506.mp4″]
The Atlanta Hawks just signed Trae Young to a max contract, and now have their other young star in John Collins locked up for the foreseeable future.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday that Collins signed on the dotted line for a cool $125 million on a five-year contract:
Collins was a restricted free agent, and after Young’s monster deal got done, speculation intensified that he could be on his way out of Atlanta, depending how the front office wanted to construct the roster around the superstar guard.
But considering the big role Collins had in helping the Hawks to a surprise Conference Finals run and how much room he still likely has to improve, they wisely took the plunge on the 23-year-old.
John Collins extension is a win for all parties involved
It’d sting quite a lot if Collins were to be discarded off such a stellar four-season run. He’s been sticking it out, grinding with Young and helping Atlanta build something special.
Young would also be a little nonplussed if he signed an extension, only to see his most promising teammate exit. Unless there was a clear strategy in place to chase another superstar, that’d be a really bad look for the front office.
After the first wave of free agency came and went, the Hawks were wise to just focus on their current nucleus — which still has plenty of potential to grow together — and re-upping with Collins is the latest evidence that Atlanta truly believes in the core it has.
Bear in mind, too, that De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish were mostly unavailable when the Hawks went on their improbable run amid a hot finish to the regular season, which they rode to within two wins of the NBA Finals.