Assess the deal: Hawks send AJ Griffin to the Rockets in exchange for a contentious potential.

On June 27, the Atlanta Hawks kicked off draft day early when they reached an agreement to trade the Houston Rockets’ No. 44 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft for AJ Griffin, a 2022 first-round selection. Still, they weren’t finished. Atlanta then traded the No. 43 pick to the Miami Heat in return for the No. 44 pick and cash.

With that selection in hand, the Hawks chose Serbian wing Nikola Durisic, a controversial player who benefited from a potent combination. This transaction for the Hawks has a big financial component, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN and Keith Smith of Spotrac.

Marks wrote, “Atlanta is now squarely at the $171 million luxury tax following the Griffin trade to Houston.”

Nevertheless, Atlanta would now advance to the first round if they present Saddiq Bey a qualifying offer of $8.5 million.

After the deal, host of “Locked On Hawks,” Brad Rowland, posted, “of note, it is helpful for a team trying to… avoid the tax… to have a second-round pick making the rookie minimum.”

It’s possible that the Hawks sold the pick. Rather, they will be locked in at the $189.5 million second luxury tax apron thanks to their agreement with Miami.

“The Atlanta Hawks are now hard-capped at second apron because they used cash in the trade-up with the Miami Heat,” Smith wrote on X. The Hawks are under the second apron by roughly $17.7 million. They should be alright, but it’s still advisable to keep a watch on them.

This won’t only effect the Hawks prior to the NBA season ending due to new league regulations.

A team’s hard cap usually expires on June 30, the end of the current league season, and they are given a fresh start on July 1. But starting in the 2024 offseason, a team will not be allowed to surpass that apron level in the ensuing season if it participates in any of the trade-related transactions that are forbidden for first or second apron teams between the end of the regular season and June 30,” Hoops Rumors’ Luke Adams wrote in December.

“For instance, a team will not be permitted to surpass the second tax apron during the 2024–2025 league year if it sends away cash in a transaction in June of 2024 [as the Hawks just did]. The opposite is also true: a team won’t be able to exchange funds in June if their projected 2024–25 salary is higher than the second apron.

This is definitely more of a motivator for the Hawks to secure a deal for one of their more burdensome contracts than it is for them to spend money.