What’s an ideal offseason look like for the Atlanta Hawks?

The Hawks have to feel a little better about themselves after getting bounced by the Knicks in six games in the first round, considering New York hasn’t lost a single game since and just clinched their first trip to the NBA Finals since 1999. Perhaps Atlanta’s second-half surge wasn’t fool’s gold after all, and this offseason could still be a pivotal turning point for the franchise — one that vaults them into the conversation among the Eastern Conference elite.

But what does that look like? Do the Hawks stay the course, sticking with their plan of stockpiling assets and adding more young talent to their current core? Or is this the offseason general manager Onsi Saleh takes the big swing?

The most likely answer is they stay the course. Saleh has a measured approach, having come from organizations like the Warriors and Spurs that built through the draft. He understands that’s the most reliable way to build a sustainable winner, and that attempting to skip steps in the process often leads to disaster.

The one name worth monitoring, however, is Jaylen Brown. He’s been linked to the Hawks multiple times this offseason for a reason. He’s the type of top-ten player who can instantly make Atlanta a legitimate contender, he might actually be available, and the fact that he genuinely wants to play for his hometown team is not a position the Hawks find themselves in very often. There’s real smoke there, even if the hurdles involved are significant.

But for argument’s sake, let’s set aside the hypothetical blockbusters for a moment and talk about what actually gets the party started — which begins June 23rd on draft night.

Atlanta enters the offseason with two glaring needs: a legitimate point guard and size in the frontcourt. Both of those can potentially be addressed with their two first-round picks.

The Hawks find themselves in a slightly awkward position with the eighth pick. Following the top four, there is expected to be a run on point guards — Keaton Wagler, Kingston Flemings, Darius Acuff Jr., and Mikel Brown. Atlanta could end up taking whoever remains from that group as their point guard of the future, or they could pivot and go the size route, selecting Aday Mara out of Michigan — a 7-foot-3 center who would instantly give the team a presence in the paint they’ve sorely lacked for years.

The 23rd pick figures to land them another starting-caliber player as well. This is one of the most loaded drafts in NBA history, and coming away with two immediate contributors is the ultimate goal regardless of position.

A week after the draft, NBA free agency begins — but before that, the Hawks will have to make a decision on Jonathan Kuminga‘s $24.3 million club option.

Kuminga was a key reason for Atlanta’s turnaround over the final couple of months, averaging 12.3 points on 47.6 percent shooting, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game. He’s also still just 23 years old, and there’s a sense that another level of his game has yet to be unlocked. Seeing whether he can find that in his second season with the team is probably worth the $24 million gamble — unless the Hawks have an obvious upgrade in mind. That’s going to be difficult to find at that price point in today’s market.

The Hawks would obviously like to bring back CJ McCollum as well. He was their best player in the first-round series against the Knicks, and the veteran presence and steady scoring he provided was invaluable. The question is what a 35-year-old microwave scorer commands on the open market. The price and length of any deal have to make sense for Atlanta to pull the trigger.

Even if both return, the Hawks will still have trade exceptions available to continue upgrading the roster. This is where the draft matters. If Atlanta comes away with a point guard at pick eight, finding a rim-protecting big becomes the organization’s top priority — one that cannot be overlooked.

It might not be the sexiest offseason on paper, but this Hawks team was among the best in the NBA over the second half of the season. They followed that up with a respectable first-round showing against a team that didn’t lose a single game on its way to the Finals, and they would be adding two high-profile rookies plus help in the frontcourt. That’s a step in the right direction.

Is it enough to win an NBA Championship next season? Almost certainly not — but there’s probably no single move that gets the Hawks to that level in one offseason, and they still don’t fully know what they have in a lot of these young players.

An offseason like this keeps them in the conversation with the best teams in the East, preserves their financial flexibility going forward, and buys them more time to evaluate how all the pieces fit together.

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(Photo by John Byrum/Icon Sportswire)