The NBA Trade deadline is less than one week away and the rumors and speculation are going to be ramping up over the next several days.

The Atlanta Hawks are going to be one of the most interesting teams to watch leading up to next week. Players such as Clint Capela, Cody Zeller, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Larry Nance Jr have been mentioned as trade possibilities, but will the Hawks move any of them? The team announced this week that star forward Jalen Johnson is going to miss the rest of the season and that is something that could potentially alter their plans at the deadline.

Last summer, there was some speculation about the Hawks possibly making a move for Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, but nothing materialized. Ingram and his $36M expiring contract have been on the trade block for some time, but nobody has seemed interested in making a move for his expiring deal. That could be changing though. When making an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up program this morning, NBA insider Brian Windhorst had an interesting bit of information regarding a potential Ingram/Hawks deal:

“Brandon Ingram is a guy who has been on the trade block for months. But, over these last few days, I am seeing a little bit of a warm up out there in talks involving these two players (Ingram and Bulls guard Zach LaVine), specifically keep an eye on the Atlanta Hawks. They just lost their star wing Jalen Johnson for the season, they may start to get interested in making a move, especially for Brandon Ingram so keep an eye on that.”

This would be an interesting development. While most teams in Atlanta’s situation after the injury to Jalen Johnson would not make a move for a player like Ingram, it is not that simple for Atlanta. They do not control their own draft pick in 2025, 2026, or 2027 due to the original Dejounte Murray trade with the Spurs back in the summer of 2022. The Hawks have no incentive to lose for the rest of the season and they are still in the mix for a play-in spot in the Eastern Conference.

There are a lot of layers to a potential Ingram/Hawks partnership. What is going to be the cost to trade for Ingram? He is on an expiring contract and reportedly has wanted a huge deal in the offseason, is he just a rental for the rest of the year or do the Hawks have an interest in re=signing him this summer at the right price? Ingram has an injury history as well. He would be a good fit on the team. The Hawks prioritized getting bigger, longer, and more athletic at the forward/wing spots this past offseason and Ingram fits that mold. He has played in 18 games this season and is currently averaging 22.2 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 5.5 APG on 47% shooting from the field and 37% from three. He would step right in to where Johnson was playing and start for the Hawks.

There is still plenty of time ahead of the deadline for something to materialize between the Hawks and the Pelicans. Keep an eye out for further developments.

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