Atlanta Hawks guard CJ McCollum made ESPN's top 100 NBA players list after not making it last year.
Atlanta Hawks veteran combo guard CJ McCollum made ESPN's top 100 NBA players list after not making it last year.
McCollum is ranked No. 87. He's one spot ahead of Chicago Bulls swingman Matas Buzelis and one spot behind new Bulls guard Norman Powell.
McCollum signed a one-year, $21 million extension with the Hawks before free agency started this offseason.
McCollum averaged 18.7 points per game with the Hawks in the regular season. Atlanta lost to the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2026 playoffs in six games. McCollum put up 19.2 points per game in that series, showcasing his strong scoring skills on the biggest stage.
The 34-year-old McCollum finished the 2025-26 regular season averaging 18.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game with the Washington Wizards and Hawks while shooting 45.5% from the field, 37.5% from beyond the arc and 77.2% from the foul line. He's been in the NBA since 2013.
McCollum has played for the Portland Trail Blazers, New Orleans Pelicans, Wizards and Hawks. He holds career averages of 19.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
McCollum, who has never been to the NBA Finals, won the 2015-16 Most Improved Player of the Year Award with the Blazers.
A native of Canton, Ohio, McCollum has buried 2,180 career three-pointers, the 16th most in NBA history. He is one of only seven players in NBA history to knock down more than 2,000 triples while shooting .395%-or-better from deep, joining Ray Allen, Stephen Curry, Buddy Hield, Kyle Korver, Reggie Miller and Klay Thompson.
The Hawks ranked dead last in the NBA in isolation scoring last season (0.80 points per possession), shooting only 37.6% overall on their lowly 4.8 attempts per game. Keeping McCollum ensures Atlanta is more lethal offensively next 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.
The new franchise player for the Hawks in the post-Trae Young era is Jalen Johnson, who had a great 2025-26 campaign. The forward averaged 22.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game while shooting 48.9% from the field, 35.2% from beyond the arc and 78.8% from the free-throw line. The Duke product recorded 49 double-doubles and 13 triple-doubles in 72 games.
How good is Johnson? Last season, he became the fifth player in league history to put up a season in which he averaged at least 22 points, 10 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game. The other four players on that list? NBA legends Wilt Chamberlain, Nikola Jokic, Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook.
