The Hawks don’t want to bottom out.
To that end, Luke Babbitt should help.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Free agent forward Luke Babbitt has agreed to a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 4, 2017
Michael Scott of ESPN:
Atlanta Hawks and Luke Babbitt have agreed to a one-year, $1.9 million deal, a league source told @BBallInsiders. ESPN first on agreement.
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) August 4, 2017
Babbitt’s minimum salary is $1,974,159. It sounds as if he’ll get that.
Between Marco Belinelli, Ersan Ilyasova, Miles Plumlee, Malcolm Delaney, Kent Bazemore, Dewayne Dedmon and now Babbitt, Atlanta is committing a lot of its roster spots to players who will be at least 28 when the season begins. For a likely bad team, that limits swings at players who can be developed for the future.
Babbitt is a good 3-point shooter whose defensive effort makes him passable on that end. There’s room in the league for players like that. On such a cheap deal, Babbitt might even fetch a better young asset before the trade deadline than the Hawks could have gotten now.
In the meantime, they probably hope Babbitt helps them win enough to remain relevant. That’s a longer shot.
