It appears Paul Millsap will be headed to the Denver Nuggets as part of a three-way sign-and-trade with the Los Angeles Clippers and Atlanta Hawks.
It also appears this is the extent of his contract negotiations with the Hawks, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s Chris Vivlamore:
Paul Millsap tells the AJC the Hawks never offered him a contract. Story soon.
— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) July 3, 2017
In some ways, this is a good sign. It means the Hawks are committed to a real rebuild, and that new general manager Travis Schlenk is being given the autonomy to make some truly tough decisions, even if they’re ones that head coach Mike Budenholzer, recently relieved of his team president duties, wouldn’t fully support.
At the same time: Holy crud the Hawks messed up.
They lost Al Horford for nothing last summer, and now it’s Millsap. In no way is this a good decision. Millsap in particular stings, because the Hawks had two trade deadlines to move him. This isn’t on Schlenk, since he wasn’t in charge then, but it’s most certainly on the Hawks organization as a whole for not taking a more proactive approach to reinventing themselves when they need it was a possibility.
Props to Schlenk for having the gall to ensure Atlanta isn’t saddled with a $30 million contract that, even in the short term, runs counter to the team’s timeline. But shame on the Hawks for putting themselves in a position that doesn’t allow them to adequately capitalize on Millsap’s departure. After all, surely they could have netted more than Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone and a late first-rounder had they dealt Millsap at either of the last two February deadlines.
