Before the market closed, the Hawks had explored the possibility of trading second-in-command John Collins, and before Simmons was traded to the Nets, the Hawks wanted to take him to Atlanta and offer the 76ers for Collins, Bogdanovic and the draft picks, but unfortunately the deal did not take shape, Simmons eventually went to the Nets, and Collins was able to remain with the Hawks. What is even more lamentable is that before discussing the deal with the 76ers, Collins' name also appeared in the related transaction with the Wizards, but after the deal was suspended, the Hawks wanted to wait until the offseason to discuss the deal, and they were repeatedly caught in the trade storm, but now they can still stay in the team, and they don't know how Collins feels now.
Unable to leave the Hawks, Collins was more or less affected in terms of mentality in today's Hawks and Spurs battle. In this morning's Hawks' 121-136 loss to the Spurs, Collins scored only four points on 2-of-8 shooting in the opening 20 minutes, being the only player in the Hawks' starting Five who did not score in double figures, and was directly hit by the opposing blue-collar interior Peltel.
As the second boss of the current Eagles, Collins is also a "proud work" cultivated by the team, in the 17-year draft, Collins was selected by the Eagles with the 19th pick in the first round, in his rookie season, Collins was able to deliver a good 10.5 points and 7.3 rebounds, and after the end of the season he was also successfully selected as the best rookie second team, and in the following season, Collins was also directly entrusted by the Hawks to start the task, in the 19-20 season, Collins once cut a career-best 21.6 points and 10.1 rebounds, if it were not for the team's unsatisfactory record at the time, Collins' data list was indeed a good chance to become an All-Star.
In the first half of last season, under the coaching of then-manager Lloyd Pierce, the Hawks did not play the desired record, and at that time, it was also revealed that Collins and Trae Young had clashed in the locker room, but after McMillan took office, the team returned to the right track, the record ushered in a significant improvement, and the relationship between the two also eased. And it was precisely when the relationship with Trae Young was rigid, the Hawks once wanted to trade Collins out, but they did not get an attractive offer, and he continued to stay with the team after that. As the Hawks' record picked up at that time, the team also went all the way to the East Finals stage, and Collins also handed over a good stat of 13.9 points and 8.7 rebounds in his first playoff trip, and after the end of the season, reached a five-year, 125 million maximum salary extension with the Hawks.
However, this season, the Eagles have put Collins on the trading shelf again in the case of another unsatisfactory record, which is really regrettable. This season, Collins averaged 16.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.1 blocks per game for the Hawks, shooting 53.7%, 38.8% and 79.4% respectively, as the team's unyielding starting No. 4 position, if you really put the Hawks' poor record on him, it is obviously unfair.
As of now, the Hawks temporarily ranked tenth in the East with a record of 26 wins and 29 losses, 5.5 wins away from the sixth-place Raptors, and it is basically unrealistic to want to directly enter the playoffs as the previous six last season, if the Hawks have an iron heart to sell Collins, then no matter how good or bad he is this season, the offseason is likely to leave Atalanta.