Onsi Saleh Warns That Jalen Johnson Still Has ‘Another One or Two Levels’

The Atlanta Hawks president of basketball operations said so in an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio hosts Brian Geltzeiler and Sam Mitchell, which the network posted Friday evening.

Johnson is coming off his fifth NBA season. He made his first All-Star team in February and was named third-team All-NBA in May.

Johnson took over as Atlanta's primary playmaker after the Hawks traded Trae Young in January, and Saleh said Johnson was basically a rookie in that role last season.

"With Jalen, he's still at the tip of the iceberg, still trying to figure out what level he could still get to," Saleh said. "Because I do think there's another one or two levels, notches that he could get to. That was his first year doing that as basically I called him like a rookie in his role because he didn't really have that load coming up and fought through and persevered through injuries and had a really healthy season last season. But that was his first time doing it, and there's things that he's also worked on this summer to get better."

"But having a 6-foot-9 guy that could pass, dribble, and shoot and rebound, they're pretty rare in this league, and we're super lucky," Saleh continued. "But that guy, he could get a lot better too, which is scary."

Johnson averaged 22.5 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 7.9 assists across 72 games, all career highs. He shot 48.9% from the field and 35.2% from 3-point range.

He finished with 49 double-doubles. His fifth triple-double of the season came at Detroit and broke the franchise single-season record Bill Bridges set in 1969-70. He ended the year with 13.

The Hawks agreed to trade Young during their Jan. 7 home game against New Orleans, with Young watching from the bench at State Farm Arena. CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert came back from the Washington Wizards, and the deal was finalized two days later.

Atlanta finished 46-36 and, as the East's sixth seed, drew the New York Knicks in the first round and lost in six games.

A torn labrum in his left shoulder ended Johnson's 2024-25 season in January 2025, 36 games in, and he had surgery to repair it. The year before that, he played 56 games and averaged 16.0 points and 8.7 rebounds, both career highs at the time.

Johnson came to Atlanta as the 20th pick in the 2021 draft out of Duke. His five-year, $150 million rookie-scale extension, agreed to on Oct. 21, 2024, kicked in last season. It is fully guaranteed, with no options.

Before Atlanta, Saleh spent three seasons with the Golden State Warriors and left as vice president of basketball strategy and team counsel.

The Hawks hired him as assistant general manager in May 2024, and when they fired Landry Fields in April 2025 and moved Saleh into the general manager job, the team also announced it had opened a search for a president of basketball operations.

Only Boston's Brad Stevens finished ahead of Saleh in NBA Executive of the Year voting last season. On May 27, he got the president's title himself. A long-term extension came with it.

Johnson sat out Atlanta's preseason game at San Antonio on Oct. 8. Two nights later, he scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting in a 119-117 win at the Indiana Pacers.

He rested with most of the regulars on Oct. 12 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Later Friday, he had 20 points, 14 rebounds, and three assists in 25 minutes of a 135-111 win over the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. He went 5-of-10 from the field and 9-of-11 at the free-throw line.

Atlanta finished the preseason 4-1.

The Hawks open the regular season Wednesday at the Orlando Magic, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. ET at Kia Center. Atlanta hosts the Houston Rockets in its home opener Saturday.