LAS VEGAS —— After three straight Play-In appearances, expectations were modest for the Atlanta Hawks in 2024-25. Quin Snyder’s team was coming off its worst season in nearly a half-decade and, outside of winning the NBA Draft Lottery and selecting Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 overall pick, the biggest news produced by the Hawks was a deal to break up Trae Young and Dejounte Murray by sending Murray to New Orleans for a future-facing return. Though the Hawks do not have their own first round pick in 2025 by virtue of the initial and ill-fated Murray trade with the San Antonio Spurs, jokes about a fourth consecutive Play-In trip in the weakened East hit a little bit too close to home for the franchise.
Then, Atlanta suffered a few injuries, opened the season with a 7-11 record, and slipped even further away from the mainstream NBA consciousness. Then, a funny thing happened in that the Hawks, long led by Young and a potent offense, began to defend at a high level.
There were indications that their team was more resiliant and their defense was not as porous as years past early on in the season. There was the win over Boston, sans Young, as 16-point underdogs in an NBA Cup group stage matchup on Nov. 12. An uninspiring stretch after that as the team tried to figure out its bench made it look like yet another middling year in Atlanta, but the Hawks made waves with a two-game mini-sweep of the previously red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers in late November. That was closely followed by a statement road win over the Milwaukee Bucks, an overtime win over the LeBron-led Lakers, and an upset victory over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in the NBA Cup quarterfinal.
Frankly, it would be tough to blame anyone for assuming the Hawks found their stride with high-level offense. After all, that has been a theme of the Young era, as he remains a perennially underrated offensive creator who is capable of almost singlehandedly carrying teams to above-average offensive production. However, it has been the defense that has quietly keyed the surge for the retooling roster, and even in an NBA Cup semifinal loss to the Bucks on Saturday evening, the team’s defense turned heads.
Atlanta is now 7-2 in its the last nine games, even when including the Bucks defeat, and that uptick closely coincides with the return of Bogdan Bogdanovic and De’Andre Hunter to the rotation. That overqualified veteran duo immediately bolstered Atlanta’s bench, and the new-look Hawks suddenly have the depth and talent needed to fortify the defense.
In that nine-game stretch, the Hawks rank No. 6 in the NBA in defensive efficiency, allowing only 109.0 points per 100 possessions. That includes a wonderful defensive performance against Milwaukee in which the Hawks held the Bucks to less than 1.05 points per possession under the bright lights of T-Mobile Arena, and did so even while struggling to put the ball in the basket to pave the way for defensive stability.
Atlanta has rebounded at an elite level, securing 73.3 percent of all available defensive rebounds over the last nine games. The Bucks, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, managed to produce only one (yes, one) second-chance point in the game, and there was simply nothing easy for even a full-strength Milwaukee team featuring both Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton.
Fundamentally, there has always been a persistent question about the ability for the Hawks, or any team, to build a coherent and successful defense around Young. After all, the caricature of Young has made the rounds for years, as he has been described as anything from the “worst defender in the NBA” to even uglier framings. Young began to show signs of individual improvement in 2023-24, though, and has clearly taken a step forward in his effort and ability to hold up in certain matchups this season.
Young has physical limitations that will always prevent him from being a positive difference-maker, but the efforts have improved (as evidenced by one signature play against Milwaukee) and everyone around the Hawks organization agrees there is a definitive buy-in from their leader.
“The defensive end is going to get us to where we really want to go, and especially where I want to go,” Young said after the loss to the Bucks.”I want to go far in the playoffs.”
Young has repeatedly acknowledged that he’s struggled with his shot this season, which has partially contributed to Atlanta’s unforeseen shortcomings as an offensive team. That comes with the opportunity to impact the game in other ways, though, and Young continues to lead the NBA in assists by a comfortable margin, even on a team that falls below the median in offensive firepower and floor spacing.
“To be honest with you, I haven’t really been worried about it,” Young said of the team’s offense. “I’ve just been so focused on the defensive end and focus on that part, because I know it’s going to carry us to where we really need to go. I think if we continue to have this mindset, the offense is going to be what finds itself. In past years, that’s what’s led us. So when that is secondary for our team and our identity, that’s going to be really scary at the end of the day.”
Part of the reason Young can find optimism in the team’s identity is a multi-year history of offensive success, but the other side is a trust in the roster assembled by Landry Fields, Onsi Saleh, Kyle Korver, and the Hawks front office. Daniels was not universally viewed as a headliner in the deal that sent Murray to New Orleans. In fact, the two first round picks acquired by the Hawks to restock their future coffers garnered headlines, while Daniels was viewed as something of an auxiliary piece. In Atlanta, though, Daniels was a huge part of the return, and the 21-year-old guard has performed at an All-Defense level to begin his Hawks tenure.
Daniels is the league leader in both steals and deflections. The Australian guard is also the rare example of a player who can both produce defensive events and also lock down top-tier opponents. In only a few days, Daniels has made life exceedingly difficult for both Lillard and Jalen Brunson, which is only the tip of the iceberg.
Without the need for yet another deep dive into why the Young-Murray pairing failed, the Hawks have been in search of a true defensive stopper to pair with Young for years. Murray was misevaluated as that player, but Daniels checks the boxes and has the ability to handle the ball and create to some degree, making life easier for Young even as Daniels’ shooting comes and goes at this early stage.
Beyond Daniels, the Hawks surround Young with Hunter, Risacher, and Jalen Johnson, showcasing the roster-building idea of putting real size, length, athleticism, and defensive aptitude around Young. Hunter has been a popular name in trade circles, in part due to his uneven health record, but he’s enjoying the best stretch of his career. Risacher looks like a rookie on most nights offensively, but he is the rare example of a 19-year-old who has shown the ability to consistently execute an NBA defensive scheme as a starter.
Then, there’s Johnson. This summer, he was clearly the one “untouchable” on the Hawks roster, at least until Risacher arrived, and that included Young. The Hawks have long believed in Johnson as a potential star in the future, rewarding him with a five-year extension in October. Johnson scuffled out of the gate, but since Nov. 1, he is averaging 20.4 points (on 51.9 percent shooting), 9.9 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game. Those numbers could place Johnson in the All-Star conversation if they can continue, and he is the archetype of a 6’9 forward who can dribble, pass, shoot, and defend that every team is looking for.
“Dyson is, I think, 21, Zacch is 19, JJ is 22,” Snyder said on Saturday. “Those guys are all starting for us. There’s going to be ups and downs with young players. There’s ups and downs with everybody, but particularly with young guys. So for us to be in this type of environment and be in these types of games, I think is really important.
“You guys don’t see it in the locker room and off the court, but you can really. It’s visible on the court, how those guys are not only supporting each other but trying to give each other confidence,” Snyder continued. “I’ve said it before, the term I’ve used is long runway. Our growth is not going to be just linear. We’re going to have those moments, and every time we have — like tonight, what can we take from it? I think that’s really true for Zacch and Dyson and JJ, these moments, because they are getting an opportunity at a young age to be in them. There’s a lot of opportunity.”
Snyder’s reputation from his time in Utah pointed to the ability to construct a high-end defense, even with the caveat that Rudy Gobert was a part of that formula. In Atlanta, Snyder doesn’t have a Gobert-level presence, but he does have enough at the back end of the defense to strongly complement what is trending to be a high-end perimeter group.
For multiple seasons, the center position has been a point of trade attention in Atlanta. Against all odds, the pairing of Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu persists in year five, even with rumors involving both for multiple seasons. Still, Capela currently leads the Hawks in estimated plus-minus (EPM), and he is providing high-level rim protection, defensive communication, and rebounding. Okongwu is currently in the backup role, one that he made be overqualified for, but the Hawks generally have 48 quality minutes of center play, even if not in the most sexy construction.
Though it would be undeniably easier to garner elite defensive results with a top-tier center secured for the future, the Hawks have the bones of a team that actually can defend at a level that they’ve been unable to reach outside of a short period in 2021. It also stands as a reminder that, counter to a very prominent recent talking point in sporting circles, not every NBA team functions the same from a stylistic perspective.
There have been stretches of electric basketball in Atlanta over the last decade. Famously, the 2024-15 Hawks went unbeaten for a month, won 60 games, and found true magic with an offense that was ahead of its time. Then, they ran into LeBron, and that was that. Later, the Hawks reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2020-21, playing at a 50-win level for three months, and that run perhaps erroneously convinced Atlanta that the team was ready to live on that block when they were not.
The 2024-25 team is unlikely to repeat that level of success, but the current Hawks present more optimism to the Atlanta faithful than at any time in four years. Questions about Young’s contract may pop up this summer as his max deal expires at the end of 2025-26, plus there is uncertainty with other areas like backup point guard and whether the Hawks have enough shooting to help Young navigate the league’s best defenses.
What Atlanta does have, though, is something of an identity when, frankly, that seemed miles away just a few months ago. For years, the Hawks discussed the idea of surrounding Trae Young with defensive talent, particularly on the wings, that could offset his weaknesses and enhance his strengths. It isn’t a finished product, but if you squint a little, you can see the bones of a very interesting team in Atlanta, and it isn’t only interesting through the lens of the future. The Hawks are exactly three games out of the No. 3 spot in the Eastern Conference and, if this recent uptick in defense is real at all, Atlanta’s brass can reasonably tell itself that a top-six seed is more than plausible.
