The Atlanta Hawks have exercised the fourth-year (2016-17) options on the contracts of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dennis Schröder.

Hardaway was acquired on draft night from the New York Knicks, while Schroder is vying for minutes at point guard along with Jeff Teague.

The Oklahoma City Thunder led the NBA in efficiency differential during the preseason with a mark of +12.5.

During the 14-15 preseason, the Golden State Warriors had the league's best mark with +11.0, which became a first indicator of their jump as title contenders.

Here's the full rankings from the 15-16 preseason:

1. Thunder: 12.5
2. Celtics: 11.6
3. Grizzlies: 11.5
4. Wizards: 10.4
5. Hornets: 10.0
6. Pistons: 7.1
7. Raptors: 5.6
8. Pacers: 4.7
9. Knicks: 4.0
10. Suns: 3.9
11. Nuggets: 3.5
12. Kings: 3.3
13. Magic: 2.8
14. Blazers: 1.8
15. Jazz: 0.4
16. Heat: 0.0
17. Hawks: -0.7
18. Rockets: -0.7
19. Nets: -1.0
20. Warriors: -1.3
21. Spurs: -1.9
22. Lakers: -2.1
23. Bucks: -3.4
24. Bulls: -3.6
25. Pelicans: -3.6
26. Clippers: -4.2
27. Cavaliers: -6.5
28. 76ers: -8.6
29. Mavericks: -10.7
30. Wolves: -11.0

KL Chouinard (@KLChouinard) joins Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) to preview the Atlanta Hawks.  

Topics include:  What improvements stalwarts Al Horford, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, and Jeff Teague can make to their games, how new additions Tiago Splitter and Tim Hardaway fit in, how the Hawks will adjust to the loss of DeMarre Carroll, and season predictions.

Subscribe to the Dunc'd On Basketball Podcast on iTunes or via the XML feed.

Click here for other team previews from the Dunc'd On Basketball Podcast.

The Atlanta Hawks have requested waivers on Earl Barron and DeQuan Jones.

Both players appeared in four preseason contests.

The Atlanta Hawks have requested waivers on Terran Petteway.

Petteway appeared in three preseason contests for the Hawks.

Thabo Sefolosha is suing New York City and eight police officers for up to $50 million over "permanent" injuries.

Sefolosha says in a legal notice that the broken leg he suffered when cops pushed him to the ground outside 1Oak last April caused him to “become substantially disabled.”

The physical “damages are permanent in nature and continuing into the future,” according to the notice of claim filed with the city’s comptroller.

Sefolosha has returned to the Atlanta Hawks this preseason.

The Atlanta Hawks will wait until the Nov. 2nd deadline to decide whether to pick up their team options on Dennis Schroder and Tim Hardaway Jr.

The team is likely to exercise the options but typically waits until the deadline as a matter of procedure.

Atlanta has 2016-17 options on Schroder for $2.7 million and Hardaway for $2.3 million.

Michele Roberts said the National Basketball Players Association will support Thabo Sefolosha if he chooses to pursue civil litigation against the New York City Police Department.

Sefolosha had his leg broken during an altercation with NYPD officers.

Sefolosha was found not guilty of misdemeanor obstructing government administration, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. 

"He had a criminal case and we had to respect that," Roberts said during a question-and-answer session at the espnW: Women + Sports Summit in Dana Point, California. "He now has a civil litigation if he wants to pursue it. I take my lead from him ... but all he has to do is turn me on and I'm gone. I can't even tell you how horrific the experience he had was. It was just dreadful."

Roberts said the union remained relatively quiet while Sefolosha dealt with criminal charges, but believes he "wants to do more" now that he's been exonerated.

"I was outraged when [the incident] happened. We were all outraged when that happened," Roberts said. "We needed to obviously defer to Thabo. We've always taken a backseat and respected what he wants to do and we'll do that going forward. The good news is he does want to do more. And we will do as much as he will allow us to do for him."

Tiago Splitter braced himself for the possibility of being traded by the San Antonio Spurs this past offseason.

With the Spurs pursuing major free agents, Splitter was an obvious candidate to be dealt to open up cap space.

“I don’t say I love it, but I expected it," said Splitter.

“I knew the changes they wanted to do with this franchise,” he said. “I knew they wanted to bring a new superstar to the team. The way they could do that was to trade somebody.”

Gregg Popovich called Splitter to inform him he had been traded to the Atlanta Hawks.

“Once I accepted it, Atlanta was the best option,” Splitter said. “I really like the team I’m with now.”

Edgar Sosa and Arsalan Kazemi have been waived by the Atlanta Hawks.

Both Sosa and Kazemi received limited playing time in the preseason.