Atlanta Hawks

Made the offseason's most aggressive defensive bet: acquired Lu Dort from Oklahoma City for three second-rounders and landed Ryan Nembhard, while shipping 2024 No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher to Dallas in the same three-team framework. Dort's point-of-attack defense now fronts a young core of Johnson, Okongwu, Wiggins and Carter, with McCollum supplying veteran scoring. The Kuminga saga ended in the worst case: he signed a two-year prove-it deal in Minnesota and Atlanta lost the February Porzingis-deal centerpiece for nothing. Swapping Risacher's upside for Dort's defensive floor is a clear play-in escape attempt — now it has to work. September's swap of Buddy Hield, Ryan Nembhard and cash for Dorian Finney-Smith trades bench scoring for a switchable 3-and-D forward who fits next to Dort — at $198.0M, Atlanta stays $2.5M under the tax and $11.1M under its hard cap.

Used the non-taxpayer MLE to re-sign Jock Landale — team salary cannot exceed $209.0M at any point this season.

2026-27 figures verified against Spotrac and HoopsRumors reporting. View full cap sheet on the Salary Cap page.