Free agent guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker has agreed to a four-year, $62MM deal with the Hawks, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (via Twitter).
The contract includes a fourth-year player option and a trade kicker, according to Charania (Twitter link).
The Hawks will acquire Alexander-Walker via a sign-and-trade using the $25MM trade exception generated by last year’s Dejounte Murray trade, according to cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link). This will generate a trade exception for the Timberwolves worth half of Alexander-Walker’s starting salary.
The Timberwolves are also receiving cash considerations and a future second-rounder, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic tweets. The pick is the Cavaliers’ 2027 second-rounder, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link).
By going the sign-and-trade route, Atlanta will be able to preserve its non-taxpayer mid-level exception and still has room under the luxury tax line to make use of it.
The Hawks were considered the frontrunners to acquire Alexander-Walker after the Timberwolves reached agreements with two of their other prominent players, Naz Reid and Julius Randle. According to insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link), Trae Young was instrumental in recruiting NAW to Atlanta.
Alexander-Walker emerged as one of the biggest names on the free agent market due to his three-and-D skills. He had a 23-point, six-assist outing against OKC in the Western Conference Finals.
The 26-year-old appeared in every regular season game this season, including 10 starts, averaging 9.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists. He made 38.1 percent of his threes and has knocked down 36 percent of them in his career. He now slots in as the Hawks’ sixth man, backing up Dyson Daniels at shooting guard.
That time of the year for ridiculous contracts from dumb nba FOs
I’d normally say “that’s just market value,” but it seems like he got more than that. Good for him and his agent.
Idk, I saw lots of predictions in the $60M range.
I thought he’d get $18M because so many teams need his type
It’s a good deal for Hawks
From what you’re saying, I guess that is just the market these days for that type of player.
Its aristotle youre talking to here. Most of the stuff he says are from his behind.
2016 Mozgov and Deng got 4/$64M from Lakers. Ian Mahon got same from Washington. These salaries are all steals when you factor in inflation 🤣
@Mike, as soon as I saw what Morgs said I thought of those two contracts. Fortunately, the Lakers were able to turn DLo and Mozgov into Kuzma and Lopez to get off of one of those horrendous contracts. Summer of ’16 was ridiculous
Yeah, Allen Crabbe got $18M a season too. They were wilding hard
Lol I forgot about Crabbe! Yeah, that was nuts.
I don’t think 15 a year, which I guess next year won’t even be the mid level, is a crazy deal for him
Hawks could be scary next year!
“Scary”
Hate to see him leave the wolves but with all their other moves he was simply the last man out. Glad to see they received something in return and he was able to get his $
Wolves also have Dilly, TSJ, and Jaylen Clark to replace him in the guard rotation
The hope is Clark will step into that role, but he’ll most likely be a big downgrade in Terms of shooting.
Glad NAW got paid. A real turnaround for him.
And you can win championships with these types.
This guy plus Luke Kennard, Vit, Bufkin, Mo Gueye, Asa Newell & Porzingis form a really strong bench squad for us. A lot of shooting, a lot of defense, nice youth/vet mix
Deep, young, athletic. Definitely looking good.
Trae young will never win a ring.
We’ll miss NAW for sure. Great player. Underrated defender. I’ll still be a fan of his, just not when he’s playing the Wolves. :)
Can’t believe he got this much.
Guess when it came right down to it,
The Timberpuppies didn’t give a
DIME
about NICKEIL
Especially when he doesn’t start
and only plays a QUARTER.
Hawks kinda nasty now, nice to see them actively trying to take advantage of the Celtics falloff without Tatum next year, they might be a top 4 team now honestly. Deep, good roster. Interesting to see how they gel together.
Trae, Kristaps, Okongwu, Zaccharie, Daniels, Nickeil, Kennard, Nance, Jalen Johnson and Krejci is a deep, deep roster.
I like what they’ve done, but there’s not a lot of playmaking outside of trae…
Krejci is super underrated
Hawks could be a contender in the East this upcoming season.
Hawks Depth Chart (12)
PG: Trae Young, Kobe Bufkin
SG: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Luke Kennard, Vit Krejci
SF: Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher
PF: Jalen Johnson, Asa Newell, Mouhamed Gueye
C: Kristaps Porzingis, Onyeka Okongwu
UFA: Garrison Matthews (SG), Larry Nance Jr (C), Dominick Barlow (C)
Pretty underwhelming. Unless you’re a fanboy
Hawks don’t deserve him.
He’ll be sorely missed. Wish we could have agreed to a contract to keep him in MN. Love you NAW.