The 2017 NBA Draft would likely look a bit different for the Atlanta Hawks if it happened again today.
Years back, the Atlanta Hawks entered the 2017 NBA Draft with the No. 19 overall pick, and they used it on forward John Collins out of Wake Forest.
Collins ultimately had a six-season stint with the Hawks before a trade ended his tenure in 2023.
Now, nine years removed from the 2017 NBA Draft, there is far more information to work with than there was when teams made their selections that year. So, how should the draft have really looked?
Bleacher Report attempted to answer that question in a recent re-draft exercise. BR took a look back at the 2017 draft results and rearranged the selections, giving each team the best player available at each pick based on what's known now.
In the re-draft, Collins doesn't make it to No. 19. He instead lands with the Detroit Pistons at No. 12 overall.
This forces a new player to land with the Hawks in the re-draft, and it happens to be center Luke Kornet, who originally went undrafted.
While Collins has had a better overall career than Kornet in the NBA, the 7-foot-1 center has established himself as a playable rotation piece. He has also been a part of some really good teams, reaching the NBA Finals three times already (with one ring to show for it).
Last season was one of the best of his career so far. Making 68 appearances and 25 starts with the San Antonio Spurs, he averaged 6.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while shooting 64.3 percent from the field. He then played a role in the postseason as the Spurs reached the NBA Finals, where they ultimately fell short.
Kornet originally came into the league as a stretch big, but he changed his game after his first few seasons in the NBA and is now an interior-focused center. The change has improved his efficiency and seemingly helped him carve out an identity.
The 31-year-old landing with the Hawks in the re-draft exercise is a bit ironic given the controversy he was involved in last season with regard to Atlanta's scheduled "Magic City Monday" theme night, but ultimately, the re-draft is just a hypothetical that won't actually be coming to fruition.
The Hawks seemingly did well by identifying Collins as a good value pick at No. 19, as he flashed star potential in Atlanta before his role started to decrease and he was ultimately traded.
