{"id":22638,"date":"2026-07-31T02:41:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22638"},"modified":"2026-07-31T02:41:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:41:54","slug":"yay-or-nay-should-the-hawks-pursue-peyton-watson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22638","title":{"rendered":"Yay or nay: Should the Hawks pursue Peyton Watson?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"zephr-anchor\">\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">With all the moves the Atlanta Hawks have made this season, some would think that they would done trying to add players. I mean, they have over the standard amount of players on the team, which means somebody is either going to be traded or waived at some point before the start of the season. Nonetheless, the Hawks are still being mentioned in rumors as they try to acquire another player on the team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The latest rumor came from Shams Charania, as he named the Hawks as one of three teams looking to pursue restricted free agent Peyton Watson. The Denver Nuggets have been trying to find a way to retain him, but his price tag might be too high for them, and they\u2019re currently the only team in the second apron.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The Nuggets can still find a way to keep him and not be too deep in a financial hole, but it would either require them trading other players or him playing on his qualified offer. If neither one of those options works out, there\u2019s a good chance that he\u2019s on a new team next season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">That\u2019s where the Hawks could potentially come into play.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p><h3 class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">How Peyton Watson fits with the Hawks<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">It makes sense why the Hawks might be interested in Watson, and he fits everything they want to do on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">On offense, Watson\u2019s 6\u20198 frame makes him hard to guard, especially when he\u2019s driving to the paint, which is something he did a lot with the Nuggets. He\u2019s pretty athletic as well, and can get shifty when he\u2019s going up for a layup. The Nuggets didn\u2019t need Watson to create his own shot all the time, but when he did have the ball in his hands, he knew what to do with it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">As far as off-the-ball goes, when you have a player like Nikola Jokic on the team, cutting is essential, and Watson was good at creating shots by doing so. Whether he\u2019s on or off the ball, Watson\u2019s strengths would fit in perfectly with what the Hawks want to do on offense, strictly because he\u2019d thrive with the constant ball movement. Not to forget to mention, Watson shot 41.1% from the 3-point line this past season, and the Hawks are consistently getting those shots up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">On defense, Watson\u2019s length comes into play once again, and he\u2019s good for meeting people at the rim if he has the right angle. He\u2019s good for using his wingspan to get steals, and once he\u2019s in transition, it\u2019s hard to stop him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The Hawks already have several wings on their team, but he\u2019d be one of the tallest next to Jalen Johnson, who is also 6\u20198. That would be a plus for the team, and his skill set would go well with the Hawks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p><h3 class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">How could the Hawks acquire Peyton Watson?<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The Hawks would have to acquire Watson through a sign-and-trade, and the Nuggets are rumored to want a really good high-level player and a first-round pick. The Hawks have some assets that they could offer the Nuggets, but it may get complicated when looking at both of their current situations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The Nuggets are in the second apron, and their goal shouldn\u2019t be to get themselves deeper in a hole. That means they may have to trade more players, or they might just have to ask for more picks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">With the Hawks having 17 players currently on the roster, they could trade players such as Buddy Hield and Corey Kispert, but those aren\u2019t the level of players they\u2019re looking for in return. Other than that, it\u2019s hard to see the Hawks giving up any of their core players, especially since acquiring Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort in a trade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">In that case, the Hawks and Nuggets may have to find a third team to get into the deal, but it may be even harder to pull that off unless that team is getting something valuable in return.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Out of the current teams who have interest in Watson, the Hawks might have the hardest path, but with them actually being interested shows that they know a path in getting him without making things complicated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With all the moves the Atlanta Hawks have made this season, some would think that they would done trying to add players. I mean, they have over the standard amount of players on the team, which means somebody is either going to be traded or waived at some point before the start of the season&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/platform.peachtreehoops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/122\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2254897946.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C10.728798490432%2C100%2C78.542403019136&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}