After a very active draft night, the Hawks have been fairly quiet. The team has made a pair of trades to swap veterans on bloated contracts, bringing in Evan Turner and Chandler Parsons, but they hadn’t done anything of note in free agency through the first week.
On Monday, they finally made their first move and, in a bizarre twist, they once again added a veteran on the wing despite a much larger need at center. The Hawks will sign Jabari Parker to a two-year, $13 million deal, with a second-year player option, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Sources: Jabari Parker is signing a two-year, $13M deal with the Hawks, with a player option in year two. https://t.co/MjQTdEuDaR
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 8, 2019
Free agent Jabari Parker reached and agreement with the Atlanta Hawks on a two-year, $13 million deal, league sources tell Yahoo Sports. Player option on second year.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 8, 2019
After drafting De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish, it’s been surprising to see the Hawks acquire so many veteran wings this summer. Parsons, Turner (who they will play some at backup point guard), and Parker (who will play both forward spots) all chew up roster spots and, if they play, minutes that most would consider best to go to their young core.
A year ago, Parker averaged 14.5 points and 6.6 rebounds per game for the Bulls and Wizards, posting similar stats to his career averages. He won’t bring the Hawks much in the way of spacing and shooting, but will provide them with another guy that create his own shot — something it’s yet to be seen if their young wings can do — which is desperately needed next to Trae Young.
The surprise at the signing comes from the team’s roster construction as of now, which has just two nominal centers and little depth behind Young at point guard. Unless they’ve had a change of heart about John Collins’ positional future and will have him play more small-ball five this year, Atlanta’s rotations will be very interesting to watch as they try to balance a lot of wings and not a ton at the one or five.
