Where do the Atlanta Hawks land after LeBron James went to the Philadelphia 76ers?
NBA legend LeBron James signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Sixers now have a lethal core of LeBron, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and VJ Edgecombe.
NBA analyst Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report ranked every team in the league after James joined the 76ers, and he has the Atlanta Hawks at 15.
The Hawks have been busy this 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, declined Jonathan Kuminga's team option and drafted Kingston Flemings, Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar in the 2026 draft.
Atlanta's core moving forward is Dort, Wiggins, McCollum, Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Onyeka Okongwu.
The Hawks went 46-36 last season. They were the sixth seed in the 2026 Eastern Conference playoffs and lost to the New York Knicks in the first round in six games. Atlanta was the only team in the 2026 playoffs to beat New York more than once.
In the post-Trae Young era, Johnson is the face of the Atlanta franchise. Johnson had a terrific 2025-26 season for the Hawks. He 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.
The 24-year-old Johnson made his first All-Star and All-NBA team last season. The swingman made the All-NBA third team.
Johnson will be 28 in 2030 and Bailey believes the forward will be the 18th-best player in the NBA by then.
"Having a forward like Johnson who can shut down the opposing star, start the break with a board and then handle it as the point man is a game-changer," Bailey wrote. "And all the skills that allow Johnson to do that already are only going to get better between now and 2030. He, like several others on the list, can improve as a jump shooter. More time as the primary facilitator should help him learn how to better take care of the ball too. But we're already in nitpicking territory with a sub-25 forward who just put up the numbers above."
Johnson enters next season with career averages of 14.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. All signs point toward the Wisconsin native make multiple All-Star and All-NBA teams.
