Coming off one of the worst seasons in franchise history, the Atlanta Hawks are one of the few teams with a ton of cap room heading into free agency. This has afforded Atlanta the opportunity to consider picking up bloated contracts as a way to add other assets.
Now, according to Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that could include taking Kenneth Faried and his large contract off the hands of the Denver Nuggets in exchange for both a draft pick and a couple players.
“The Nuggets are aggressively seeking to shed salary by trading forward Kenneth Faried, and the Hawks are willing to accommodate them for the right price, according to a person with knowledge of the NBA trade market,” Cunningham reported.
The report goes on to mention recent draft picks Malik Beasley and Tyler Lydon as potential chips heading to Atlanta in the hypothetical trade.
Under the leadership of former Golden State Warriors assistant general manager Travis Schlenk, Atlanta is looking to build its team in the same manner that Golden State did years back — through the draft.
Atlanta already boasts four picks in next week’s NBA Draft, including the No. 3 selection. By using cap room to add more assets, its rebuild process could be expedited some.
Faried, 28, averaged just 5.9 points and 4.8 rebounds last season. Set to earn $13.76 million in 2018-19, Denver is attempting to get out from under his contract. If this trade were to come to fruition, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Atlanta buy the veteran forward out. The idea would be to add a young player or two as well as a valuable draft pick (14th overall).