Atlanta Hawks Placed in Same NBA Tier as Orlando Magic by ESPN

ESPN's Zach Kram placed the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic in the same NBA tier.

Kram has Atlanta and Orlando as "solid Southeast squads."

"These Southeast Division rivals occupy their own sort of Goldilocks tier: Their ceiling is too low to fit in any of the earlier groups, but their floor is too high to go any later," Kram wrote. "Their similarities extend further than that: They finished in close proximity to each other last season, as Atlanta won 46 games and Orlando won 45, and both threatened to pull off a playoff upset before fading. And both made meaningful offseason upgrades, as the Hawks traded for Luguentz Dort and Aaron Wiggins, while the Magic hired new coach Sean Sweeney in an attempt to turn all of their potential into better production."

The Hawks went 46-36 and won the Southeast Division last season. 

Atlanta lost to the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2026 playoffs, but remember, the Hawks were the only team to beat the Knicks twice in the 2026 postseason.

That shows how good the Hawks will be moving forward.

Hawks Roundtable spoke to an NBA executive recently who said the Hawks had a "terrific offseason." 

The Hawks had a busy offseason. They signed CJ McCollum to an extension, re-signed Jock Landale, acquired Devin Carter from the Sacramento Kings, Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort from the Oklahoma City Thunder and Ryan Nembhard from the Dallas Mavericks and drafted Kingston Flemings, Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar in the 2026 draft.  

"Terrific offseason for Atlanta," the NBA exec told Hawks Roundtable. "You can never have enough wings in today's NBA. That's why the Dort and Wiggins trades were huge."

Atlanta's core is Dort, Wiggins, McCollum, Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Onyeka Okongwu.    

Atlanta is expected to start McCollum, Alexander-Walker, Daniels, Johnson and Okongwu next season.

The Hawks haven't won a playoff series since 2021. Let's see if that changes in 2027. 

"I don’t compare ourselves to others," McCollum told HoopsHype about the Hawks' future. "Right now, it’s about focusing on getting better individually and collectively. We can’t control how other teams look. You can control your approach to the game. Teams will get better and evolve.    

"For us, it’s about focusing on improving our intangibles, understanding our schemes, and what Quin wants from us. Then, building on the momentum and experience that we had playing in the playoffs in a big environment on the road and in our home games. We played against a team that won the NBA Finals. All those things help you as you go into a new season."

The Hawks begin the 2026-27 regular season on the road against the Magic.