3 Biggest Questions Facing Atlanta Hawks Entering Training Camp

As training camp approaches, the Atlanta Hawks have a lot of questions to answer. Still, some are more pressing than others.

More than anything, fans are ready for the season to start. Summers are long and hot in The A. If you love Hawks basketball, you've been waiting long enough.

And these three questions are likely already on your mind.

This one largely boils down to Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels.

The former is the Hawks' franchise player. In 2025-26, he did almost everything above league average — besides shooting threes. It would be ideal if Johnson could improve on the 35.2% he shot from long range last season.

At least he fared better than Daniels. He hit a gruesome 18.8% of his triples last year. The closer he could get to the 34.3% he hit in 2024-25, the better.

The Hawks managed to make up for those sore spots in terms of both volume and efficiency. Onyeka Okongwu's floor spacing was useful, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker's massive volume was too. Still, at times, their spacing suffered. If Johnson and Daniels were more credible threats to hit threes, that would make the Hawks more dangerous.

This one could be reframed as "Is Jock Landale ready?"

If so, the Hawks are good in terms of the center position. If not, Henri Veesaar's unfortunate ACL tear could be an issue.

Onyeka Okongwu will rightly start at the position, but he's somewhat undersized at 6'9". That's fine, but having a larger alternative on the bench is helpful. If Landale's availability is spotty, or if his play has declined, the Hawks could make some moves around the trade deadline to bolster their interior play.

Every other question is moot in comparison to this one — even if it won't be answered for months.

The Hawks were disappointed to lose in the first round of the 2025-26 playoffs, but it was defensible. This was a young team, and the Knicks team that eliminated them went on to win the NBA championship.

That's fine, but in 2026-27, this team needs to win a playoff series. Otherwise, we'll be asking questions about whether they need a star half-court scorer to pair with Johnson. The Hawks aren't in championship-or-bust mode, but they ought to be in first-round win-or-bust mode if nothing else.

Otherwise, they'll have more questions to answer next summer.