The five-year max contract signed by Trae Young with the Atlanta Hawks has increased from $177 million to $212 million by virtue of his place on the All-NBA Third Team.

Young was the final guard selected for the team.

While the Atlanta Hawks have been linked with changing out Clint Capela at center for another option such as Rudy Gobert or Deandre Ayton, multiple league sources tell Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report that their prioritized endgame is believed to be a wing scorer.

The Hawks own all of their first round picks plus a 2023 first rounder from the Charlotte Hornets, plus a flexible mix of contracts that can match a maximum salary in Capela, John Collins, Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, De'Andre Hunter and Kevin Huerter.

Donovan Mitchell and Bradley Beal are unlikely to leave their respective teams this offseason, but the Hawks could be in position to pursue a trade for either player in the future.

The Hawks have also been mentioned as a potential sign-and-trade destination for Zach LaVine.

The Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons and Portland Trail Blazers are the three teams most often linked to a potential pursuit of Deandre Ayton in restricted free agency.

The Charlotte Hornets and San Antonio Spurs are also logical fits for Ayton.

The Phoenix Suns decided not to offer a five-year, $170 million max contract to Ayton last offseason and they also quietly gauged his trade value at the deadline. One structure that was discussed was with the Indiana Pacers for Domantas Sabonis.

Some around the league believe Monty Williams has been frustrated by Ayton's "waning focus" and has contributed to inconsistent playing time. 

The Suns may simply not view Ayton, or any center, as worth more than $30 million per season. Phoenix could then be amenable to a sign-and-trade for frontcourt help at a more affordable number. 

The NBA has announced that the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks will play two preseason games in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates ahead of next season. The games will take place on October 6 and October 8, 2022.

These two games will be the first in Abu Dhabi, as all as the first NBA games in the UAE and the Arabian Gulf. The NBA had previously announced plans to return to playing international games in coming seasons.

It's expected that the league will eventually return to playing in Europe, with games also possible in Eastern Asia and possibly Australia. The NBA has also made it known they would like to expand to play more games in Latin America and South America. The San Antonio Spurs recently reached an agreement to play additional "home" games away from San Antonio, and this will likely include games in Mexico.

During a 30-minute media interview, Tony Ressler talked about how the Atlanta Hawks made a mistake in bringing back mostly the same roster that reached the Eastern Conference Finals the season before.

“I think if you asked our front office, they would say that they thought, based on last season’s visit to the Eastern Conference finals, that we could bring back predominantly the same team and get better, and (they) expected to be better,” Ressler said. “I don’t think that worked out the way we thought.

“Yes, I think we should have tried to get better rather than bring back what we had. That won’t happen again. It was a mistake, in my opinion at least.”

Atlanta will have salary cap constraints with its current roster, as Trae Young's max (and possible supermax) extension kicks in this coming season. 

Ressler has previously said he's comfortable paying the luxury tax if the Hawks are a title contender.

“We’re going to pay what we have to pay,” Ressler said. “Sometimes owners set a tone — and I’m trying to set a very clear tone — sometimes we say some things one season that may not pertain to the next. Going into the tax doesn’t scare us. Obviously, you want to spend money intelligently. Obviously, you want to run a good business. For whatever it’s worth, I do not look at going into the tax as only possible if we’re competing for a championship that season. Our job is to go into the tax when it’s good business, to position ourselves for greatness. We do not fear the tax. We do not fear spending money. We fully expect Atlanta to be a truly attractive marketplace for (whoever) considers playing here. Money is not going to be our obstacle.”

Ressler was then asked directly if he's given Travis Schlenk permission to enter the tax this season.

“Yes. It’s a one word answer,” Ressler said. “I don’t want to qualify hopefully the obvious. I also say let’s do it intelligently. I don’t think you want to go into the tax to prove the point that we can go into the tax. I don’t worry about those types of things. We can go into the tax for the right reasons at the right time, any time.”

The Atlanta Hawks fell from the Eastern Conference Finals to a first-round playoff exit. Atlanta GM Travis Schlenk said part of that fell on being too comfortable with their roster during the 2021 offseason.

"We made the decision last year to run the same group back. We probably should've tried to upgrade, as opposed to stay status quo," Schlenk said. "The way the season played out; we're certainly going to try to upgrade the roster moving forward into next season."

Schlenk mentioned that the Hawks have some of their own free agents to deal with this summer. He also said that there are contract situations (likely Danilo Gallinari's partially guaranteed deal) and extensions to be dealt with.