The Atlanta Hawks are in a predicament, they’re good. Bit of an oxymoron of a statement I know but hear me out.
A year ago, the Hawks were the most ‘in the middle’ team. They had the talent but couldn’t quite make waves in the Playoffs. But then they imploded, Horford, Teague, Millsap, Korver and Carroll were doing things that we didn’t see coming. But unfortunately for the Hawks, it is DeMarre Carroll’s and Paul Millsap’s contract year. And one good year makes all the GM’s forget about all their flaws.
DeMarre Carroll has been legit for one season and now the Hawks are going to have to fork it up if they want to keep him.
Since opening night, he’s risen from a candidate for a contract in the neighborhood of the midlevel exception (which would still represent more than double his current paycheck), to someone who has a reasonable claim on an eight-figure salary. Sources say the Hawks are bracing themselves for an asking price of 4 years and $50 million — and given the postseason Carroll put together and the interest around the league, possibly even more. If the price tag is much higher than that, there’s good reason to believe the flexibility-minded Hawks could bow out, though their strong preference is to retain Carroll, who has been an essential cog in their two-way success.
It’s going to be a tough ride for the Hawks during this offseason, if they keep their prime 5 for the 2015-16 season, I’d be amazingly surprised.
