The Atlanta Hawks have already made a big free agency splash but it comes at a steep price.
The Hawks have brought their hometown center back although it's three years late. Dwight Howard has agreed to a three year, $70.5 million deal with the Hawks.
Right after that, the Hawks closed the deal on their own free agent, Kent Bazemore. This was quite a statement since Bazemore had offers on the table from the LA Lakers and Houston Rockets, but still chose the Hawks.
Most of the pundits, like Jared Weiss of Celtics Blog, think that this is the signal that the Al Horford era in Atlanta has ended. "Because the Hawks only had early bird rights on Bazemore, they must use their cap space to absorb his salary. Therefore, they must renounce their cap hold on Horford to complete the signing."
According to Brian Windhorst, the Hawks still want to keep Al Horford and they want to make some moves to carve out space and keep Al Horford.
It is not known whether the Hawks consider Paul Millsap as part of the players that they are dumping, but considering Dwight Howard's statement that his reason for leaving Houston is he wants more touches, joining a frontline with Horford and Millsap might not be the answer. Also, Millsap has a player option at the end of the 2016-17 season and he may elect to become a free agent. If the Hawks sign both Horford and Howard, their frontcourt is set for the next three years (Initial reports state that D12's contract did not have any options but this has not been verified). The trade talk now has centered on Paul Millsap, Thabo Sefolosha, Tiago Splitter and Tim Hardaway, Jr as possible trade pieces to unload in order to gain cap space. The LA Lakers should be ready to pounce on this opportunity considering how they've struck out on free agents. Millsap and Sefolosha would be good fits in Luke Walton's offense The Hawks would demand picks and the Lakers might be hard-pressed since they already owe their 2017 first round pick. The Phoenix Suns, who have the draft picks, may have beaten the Lakers to the punch.