Atlanta kept the No. 8 pick and drafted Kingston Flemings rather than swing a Trey Murphy III trade. Breaking down the case for and against the decision.
The NBA offseason is officially underway, and the Atlanta Hawks fired the opening salvo. They acquired Aaron Wiggins from the Oklahoma City Thunder at the expense of a pair of second-round picks. It was a masterful deal. The Hawks capitalized on the Thunder's roster crunch to land a quality player at a discount.
The bigger question was the No. 8 pick. For weeks, the rumor mill had them shopping it, and the most persistent link was to the New Orleans Pelicans' Trey Murphy III. In the end, the Hawks stood pat. They kept the pick and drafted Houston guard Kingston Flemings.
Hawks Keep the Pick and Draft Kingston Flemings
This is the move a lot of people saw coming, and it's a sensible one.
Flemings checks a real box. The Hawks needed a point guard of the future, and now they have one. He's a 19-year-old San Antonio native who spent one season at Houston, where he averaged 16.1 points, 5.2 assists, and 1.5 steals while shooting 38.7% from three. He led the Cougars in scoring, assists, and steals. He set the program's freshman scoring record and became the first Houston freshman to earn All-America honors.
That's a cost-controlled lead guard who can sit behind CJ McCollum, who turns 35 before opening night, and grow into the job. At No. 23, the Hawks added some size in St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor.
Why Passing on Trey Murphy III Tracks
This one can be argued from both sides.
There was real value in keeping that eighth pick. From a positional perspective, the Hawks don't exactly need Murphy III. They have an excess of talented wings, and they just acquired another one in Wiggins. Murphy III's $28 million per year deal is reasonable, but it's a lot of money for a Hawks team with a lot of young talent that's either being paid, or will need to be paid. Flemings adds a rookie deal to the books instead, and Atlanta keeps its flexibility.
On the other hand, they passed on a very good player. Murphy III is likely better than anyone the Hawks could draft at No. 8 will ever be. That's not guaranteed, but in terms of probability, it's the most likely outcome. He averaged 21.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.8 assists last season while hitting 37.9% of his 8.6 threes per game. That's one of the best combinations of volume and efficiency in the NBA.
In today's positionless NBA, there's no such thing as "too many wings." Murphy III could have started at the two and bumped Nickeil Alexander-Walker into a sixth man role. The Hawks decided that wasn't worth the pick.
This is the type of pivotal decision that NBA general managers are paid to make. Onsi Saleh made his. He bet on the draft.
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