Marc Stein: Hawks’ John Collins allowed to seek trade; could be joining Nets
Atlanta Hawks forward John Collins’ representatives have been allowed by the Hawks’ front office to seek a trade on their own, according to a report by Mark Stein on Saturday. This move makes it easier for Collins to find his way to the Brooklyn Nets since he’s allowed to seek a trade by his own requirements, not Atlanta’s.
Ultimately, the Hawks have to want to do the trade for it to get done, but Collins and his representatives wouldn’t necessarily have to keep Atlanta in mind. It has been reported throughout this season that Atlanta has been looking to trade Collins as they look to go into a different direction with building their team around Trae Young and Dejounte Murray.
Brooklyn has expressed interest in Collins throughout this season as they have been constantly looking for help in the frontcourt. Even though center Nic Claxton has been having a great season as a possible DPOY candidate, he is the only true big on the team and that could hurt the Nets come playoff time. Mark Stein reports how this recent news about Collins came to pass:
“In recent weeks, league sources say, Atlanta has blessed John Collins’ representatives to do their own searching for a deal construction that enables Collins to move on to a long-anticipated new address after constant trade speculation involving the sixth-year forward stretching across multiple transaction cycles. That widely expected deal obviously hasn’t materialized yet, while Atlanta’s front office is only just emerging from the throes of the sort of in-season overhaul you rarely see thanks to the sudden transfer of power from Travis Schlenk to Landry Fields and Nick Ressler (son of Hawks owner Tony Ressler). As has been reported for weeks now, varying degrees of interest in Collins have been registered by Washington, Utah, Brooklyn and Indiana.”
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