CJ McCollum Re-Signs With Hawks on One-Year, $21 Million Deal Instead of Hitting Free Agency
CJ McCollum is not testing the open market. He is staying in Atlanta.
The 33-year-old guard agreed to a one-year, $21 million extension with the Hawks, with a trade kicker baked in, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Saturday. The deal keeps McCollum off the unrestricted free agent board and gives Atlanta cost certainty on a veteran who fit better than expected after last year’s trade.
This is the smart move for both sides. McCollum showed last season that he still has more in the tank than the trade chatter suggested. He averaged 18.7 points in 41 games for the Hawks after coming over from New Orleans, and Atlanta went 27-14 in his starts. That is not a coincidence.
The Hawks finished 46-36 and pushed the New York Knicks to six games in the first round. New York would go on to win the title. McCollum was a problem in that series. He dropped 30-plus in two of the first three games and made the Knicks miss possessions on the other end.
What the Trade Kicker Actually Means
The trade kicker is the interesting wrinkle. If Atlanta moves McCollum during the season, they owe him extra money. That cuts both ways. It protects McCollum financially if he gets shipped at the deadline. It also makes him slightly harder to trade, which is exactly what a veteran on a one-year deal wants.
Read that as McCollum betting on this Atlanta core. Trae Young is signed long-term. Jalen Johnson is a budding two-way wing. Onyeka Okongwu took a leap last year. The Hawks have a roster that should improve with a full season of McCollum next to Young rather than the 41-game cameo.
Atlanta also avoids the worst version of the offseason, which would have been losing McCollum for nothing while watching Young try to carry the offense again. That is the version that gets head coach Quin Snyder fired by January.
$21 million for a year of a starting guard who can shoot, create, and survive a playoff series is fair market. McCollum gets to chase another deal next summer when the cap jumps. The Hawks get a real shot at climbing the Eastern Conference standings.
The bigger story here is Atlanta deciding it wants to win now. Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh did not have to do this deal in June. He could have let McCollum walk to free agency, opened cap space, and chased a name. He chose continuity. That tells you the front office trusts what they saw in the playoffs.
The East is wide open behind the Knicks. Boston is reshaping. Cleveland is the same as it was. Milwaukee has the Giannis Antetokounmpo cloud hanging over everything. Atlanta is one of three or four teams that could realistically take a step into the second round next spring.
McCollum staying is not a championship move. It is a competence move. The Hawks needed one. They made it.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
