The Fantasy Basketball Encyclopedia

Team Desk · Southeast Division

Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta is a deep, defense-first contender whose fantasy hierarchy starts with first-round engine Jalen Johnson and then branches into four very different category profiles.

Roster — 21 dossiers

#191Luguentz Dort#196Corey Kispert#212Kingston Flemings#228Buddy Hield#254Aaron Wiggins#260Dyson Daniels·Asa Newell·CJ McCollum·Devin Carter·Henri Veesaar·Isaac McKneely·Jacob Toppin·Jalen Johnson·Jock Landale·Keshon Gilbert·Mouhamed Gueye·Nickeil Alexander-Walker·Onyeka Okongwu·RayJ Dennis·Ryan Nembhard·Zuby Ejiofor

Research cutoff: July 19, 2026. Projections and draft ranges are this encyclopedia's estimates unless explicitly attributed.

Correction 2026-07-19: Atlanta acquired Luguentz Dort (from Oklahoma City) and Ryan Nembhard (from Dallas) in a three-team trade completed this morning, sending Zaccharie Risacher to Dallas plus the two most favorable of Atlanta's 2031 and 2032 second-round picks to OKC (OKC's motive was second-apron relief). SI's Hawks desk graded the deal A- as a defense-first, cost-negligible upgrade. The depth chart, 240-minute model, projections, and draft board below were rebuilt accordingly. HoopsRumors · NBA.com · Yahoo · SI grade

Team snapshot

Contract audit and roster warning

The live NBA roster page is an offseason player pool, not a legal opening-night roster. An official transaction audit supports 17 standard contracts after the July 19 trade (16 at the July 18 audit, minus Risacher, plus Dort and Nembhard), so Atlanta must move, waive, or otherwise remove at least two before the regular-season maximum of 15. RayJ Dennis and Keshon Gilbert are two-way carryovers; one two-way slot appears open. The leading candidate for it is Isaac McKneely, the undrafted Louisville guard Atlanta signed to a two-way-convertible Exhibit-10 on June 25, 2026 — a signed deal, unlike the camp bodies below. McKneely Exhibit-10 report Live Hawks roster · NBA offseason tracker · NBA options and qualifying offers

Standard-contract working group: Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Luguentz Dort, CJ McCollum, Onyeka Okongwu, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Corey Kispert, Buddy Hield, Asa Newell, Mouhamed Gueye, Kingston Flemings, Zuby Ejiofor, Henri Veesaar, Devin Carter, Aaron Wiggins, Jock Landale, and Ryan Nembhard. Nembhard ($2.15M guaranteed) is the most waivable of the seventeen; SI's beat read is that he is re-routed or stashed rather than kept for a rotation role.

Not locked: Jacob Toppin is a Summer League/camp candidate, not a confirmed 2026-27 contract; he trails McKneely for the open two-way slot. Eli Ndiaye, Atlanta's other returning Summer League two-way alumnus, is likewise uncontracted — he tore a labrum on December 9, 2025 and was waived, and returned this summer on the College Park roster rather than a new deal. Hawks Summer League roster Jonathan Kuminga is an unrestricted free agent after Atlanta declined his option; Keaton Wallace received no qualifying offer; Christian Koloko, Tony Bradley, and Gabe Vincent are also unsigned. They do not belong in the locked depth chart. Kuminga option report · NBA options tracker

Working depth chart

This is a fantasy projection, not a team announcement. Atlanta used a McCollum–NAW–Daniels–Johnson–Okongwu group late in 2025-26; that unit went 19-4 with a +21.4 net rating across 822 possessions. Underdog NBA lineup post, April 6 · Sports Illustrated lineup review

Correction 2026-07-19: Luguentz Dort is projected into the starting small-forward spot, with Dyson Daniels sliding to lead-guard duties and CJ McCollum moving to a 27-minute sixth-man scoring role. This is a judgment, not a report: teams do not trade for a 27-year-old All-Defensive wing on a $17.7M expiring to bring him off the bench, and SI's beat framing is explicitly a Daniels–Alexander-Walker–Dort perimeter. The alternative branch — McCollum keeps the opening job and Dort starts on the bench — moves about four minutes and no one's rates. Zaccharie Risacher leaves the wing rotation entirely.

Position Starter Second unit Deep, developmental, or conditional
PG Dyson Daniels Kingston Flemings RayJ Dennis · Keshon Gilbert · Ryan Nembhard
SG Nickeil Alexander-Walker CJ McCollum Devin Carter · Buddy Hield · Isaac McKneely
SF Luguentz Dort Aaron Wiggins Corey Kispert · Jacob Toppin
PF Jalen Johnson Asa Newell Zuby Ejiofor · Mouhamed Gueye
C Onyeka Okongwu Jock Landale Zuby Ejiofor · Henri Veesaar · Mouhamed Gueye

Exactly 240 regulation minutes

This is the healthy, neutral-game base case. Eleven players receive minutes and the table sums to exactly 240; zero-minute players have contingent paths below.

Player Projected role Minutes
Jalen Johnson Primary creator and closing 4 35
Dyson Daniels Starting lead guard and point-of-attack stopper 32
Nickeil Alexander-Walker Starting scoring guard 31
Onyeka Okongwu Starting center 30
Luguentz Dort Starting defensive wing 27
CJ McCollum Sixth-man scorer and half-court organizer 27
Kingston Flemings Backup point guard 19
Jock Landale Backup center 17
Aaron Wiggins Reserve wing/defender 13
Devin Carter Defensive reserve guard 5
Asa Newell Reserve 4/5 4
Total Regulation allocation 240

Correction 2026-07-19: the model was rebalanced for the Dort trade. Dort enters at 27; his minutes are funded by Risacher's removed 18, plus 2 from McCollum (29 → 27), 2 from Alexander-Walker (33 → 31), 3 from Wiggins (16 → 13), and 2 from Carter (7 → 5): 18 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 2 = 27. Recomputed sum: 35 + 32 + 31 + 30 + 27 + 27 + 19 + 17 + 13 + 5 + 4 = 240 exactly, verified by arithmetic. Ryan Nembhard carries zero base minutes — his path requires guard-room attrition, the same treatment as Hield and Kispert.

Conditional swaps: Buddy Hield or Corey Kispert can take 8-13 minutes from Wiggins/Dort when shooting is needed. Zuby Ejiofor can take Newell's four plus part of Landale's role in switch-heavy matchups. Henri Veesaar is the stretch-development option. Mouhamed Gueye starts at zero because foot surgery carries a three-to-four-month reevaluation window. Dennis and Gilbert need a call-up. Isaac McKneely needs his Exhibit-10 converted to the open two-way, and Toppin first needs a contract at all. None of these paths adds minutes; each reallocates the same 240.

Full 2026-27 nine-category projections

Nine-category order is FG%, FT%, 3PM, PTS, REB, AST, STL, BLK, TO. The GP/Min column is average minutes in games played, so it need not sum to the one-night rotation table. Rookies use their final NCAA season as the statistical prior. Baselines: Basketball-Reference Hawks page, NBA player totals, Flemings, Ejiofor, and Veesaar.

Player Proj. GP/Min FG% FT% 3PM PTS REB AST STL BLK TO
Jalen Johnson 68/35 .490 .790 1.7 22.8 10.2 7.7 1.2 0.5 3.3
Dyson Daniels 74/32 .515 .640 0.4 12.0 6.5 5.8 2.0 0.5 1.8
Nickeil Alexander-Walker 74/31 .455 .880 2.8 18.3 3.3 3.4 1.2 0.5 1.9
Onyeka Okongwu 72/30 .505 .750 1.6 14.4 7.8 3.0 1.0 1.1 1.6
Luguentz Dort 68/27 .400 .760 1.9 8.6 3.6 1.2 0.9 0.3 0.8
CJ McCollum 70/27 .450 .800 2.3 16.6 2.9 4.0 0.8 0.4 1.7
Kingston Flemings 70/19 .430 .810 0.8 8.4 2.4 3.8 1.0 0.2 1.6
Jock Landale 66/17 .520 .680 0.8 8.1 4.5 1.3 0.4 0.4 0.7
Aaron Wiggins 70/13 .455 .770 0.9 6.1 2.0 1.1 0.6 0.2 0.7
Devin Carter 58/5 .410 .720 0.2 2.4 1.0 0.8 0.3 0.1 0.4
Asa Newell 52/4 .525 .620 0.2 2.2 1.1 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2
Zuby Ejiofor 36/8 .515 .700 0.2 3.7 2.5 0.8 0.4 0.5 0.5
Henri Veesaar 26/7 .540 .750 0.4 4.0 2.2 0.5 0.2 0.4 0.4
Buddy Hield 28/8 .430 .820 1.0 4.4 1.2 0.7 0.3 0.1 0.5
Corey Kispert 50/10 .460 .820 0.8 4.8 1.3 0.8 0.2 0.1 0.4
Mouhamed Gueye 38/10 .455 .650 0.3 3.0 2.4 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3
RayJ Dennis 18/8 .420 .750 0.4 3.7 1.3 2.4 0.5 0.1 0.9
Keshon Gilbert 12/7 .420 .720 0.2 3.0 1.2 1.3 0.5 0.1 0.8
Jacob Toppin 12/6* .480 .720 0.1 2.4 1.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3
Isaac McKneely 14/8* .420 .830 1.0 3.6 0.9 0.6 0.2 0.0 0.4
Ryan Nembhard 38/11* .425 .780 0.6 3.8 1.2 3.0 0.3 0.0 0.8

*Toppin's, McKneely's, and Nembhard's lines are conditional. Toppin needs a contract and a call-up; McKneely holds an Exhibit-10 that must first convert to the open two-way; Nembhard (acquired July 19) needs to survive the cut to 15 standard contracts and then needs guard-room attrition for any minutes.

Correction 2026-07-19: Risacher's row moved to the Dallas desk and Dort's row was added at 68 GP / 27 MPG — his 2025-26 OKC starter rates (8.3/3.6/1.2/0.9 with 1.9 threes in 26.8 minutes) at an equivalent workload. NAW, McCollum, Wiggins, and Carter were trimmed proportionally to match the rebalanced 240 model; no rate judgments changed for them.

Correction 2026-07-18: Hield's line was cut from 45 GP / 11 MPG / 1.3 3PM to 28 GP / 8 MPG / 1.0 3PM. The prior projection was anchored to his 51-game, 16.1-minute 2025-26 line, which is a Golden State-weighted blend — 44 of those games were Warriors games. His actual Atlanta sample after the February 5 Porzingis trade was seven games at 7.3 minutes and 5.1 points, with no playoff appearances, and the beat read is that he will not be a rotation player. Yahoo/beat roster-crunch review

Draft board by format

These are wide July target ranges, not observed ADP. Public default ranks and dynasty lists are thin and still contain stale team labels. The individual player file is canonical for draft ranges; this table restates those values and must not diverge from them.

Player 9-cat redraft Points redraft Dynasty
Jalen Johnson Pick 8-15 Pick 5-12 Top 8 overall
Onyeka Okongwu Pick 40-65 Pick 75-110 Top 65; age/role stable
Dyson Daniels Pick 50-80; build-sensitive Pick 90-120 Top 60; steals floor
Nickeil Alexander-Walker Pick 45-70 Pick 50-75 Top 100 with age/role regression risk
CJ McCollum Pick 90-125 Pick 65-95 Win-now only at age 35
Kingston Flemings Pick 120-170 Pick 120-170 Top 80; top-eight 2026 rookie
Luguentz Dort Pick 130-170; threes/steals with an FG% tax Deep-league only Outside top 250; expiring-contract rental
Jock Landale Pick 150-200 Pick 150-200 Deep-center depth
Everyone else Watch list/stream Deep-league only Ejiofor and Veesaar are the priority stashes; Nembhard is a roster-survival question, not a pick

Correction 2026-07-18: six of this table's ranges disagreed with the player files by 5 to 40 picks and have been reset to the player-file values, which are now designated canonical. The material moves: McCollum's points range from 95-135 to 65-95 and his 9-cat from 110-150 to 90-125; Daniels' points range from 55-85 to 90-120; Okongwu's points range from 55-85 to 75-110; Alexander-Walker from 55-85/55-90 to 45-70/50-75. Johnson and Flemings moved within a few picks. No new evidence drove these; this was an internal reconciliation, and a drafter cross-referencing the two pages was previously getting two different answers on Atlanta's most-drafted players. ESPN early points ranks

Public market signals

Category and format map

Main role battles and health risks

  1. Who yields to Dort? Correction 2026-07-19: the base case starts Dort at small forward with Daniels at lead guard and McCollum as the sixth man; the live alternative keeps McCollum in the opening five with Dort as the first wing off the bench. Either way the Daniels–Dort point-of-attack pair defines the identity, and the squeezed parties are Wiggins, Kispert, and Hield, whose paths shrink further. SI grade
  2. Flemings versus the veteran guards. Atlanta drafted Flemings eighth after a 16.1-point, 5.2-assist, 1.5-steal freshman season and immediately used him as a Summer League organizer. His long-term runway is clear; the opening-night path is crowded by McCollum, Daniels, Alexander-Walker, Carter, and Wiggins. Hawks draft release · Houston bio
  3. Which shooter survives the roster crunch? Hield and Kispert duplicate some of the same low-usage spacing value, while Wiggins is younger and defends. One standard contract must go; any move can unlock 10-18 minutes for a survivor. Hield is the most likely subtraction: he played seven Atlanta games at 7.3 minutes after the February trade, never entered the playoff rotation, and carries a fully guaranteed salary near $9.6M that Atlanta guaranteed for trade flexibility rather than for a role. Roster-crunch review
  4. Backup center congestion. Landale was re-signed after averaging 9.1 points in 19.4 Atlanta minutes. Ejiofor, Veesaar, Newell, and Gueye also need development time. Hawks Landale release
  5. Gueye's foot. He fractured his left foot during a July 8 workout, had surgery, and is to be reevaluated in three to four months. He is not in the opening-night base rotation. Reuters, July 16
  6. Landale's ankle. A high right-ankle sprain ended his 2025-26 regular season and kept him out of the playoffs; camp participation is the relevant check.
  7. Johnson's availability. He played 72 games in 2025-26 after shoulder surgery ended the prior season, but still logged hip, knee, calf, quad, and illness absences. Draft him for first-round per-game value while pricing some missed games.

Transactions that changed the hierarchy

Team outcome scenarios

An outside July model at CraftedNBA projected 39-43 with the 18th offense and 12th defense, but its depth chart still included unsigned Kuminga and Gabe Vincent and omitted multiple rookies. Treat it as a stale lower-bound reference, not a current roster model. CraftedNBA depth chart

Web, video, X, and community research ledger

Open questions