The Hawks, who can easily clear about $24 million in cap space, have positioned themselves as a dumping ground as they rebuild. Atlanta will take bad contracts – with sweeteners (draft picks and/or young players) attached.
If the Hawks use all that cap room, they can still accept bad multi-year contracts by dealing the expiring contracts of Dewayne Dedmon (who opted in for $7.2 million) and now Mike Muscala.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Hawks forward Mike Muscala has exercised his $5M player option, source tells ESPN. He will be back with Atlanta.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 24, 2018
Muscala can shoot 3-pointers and defend inside and on the perimeter. He’s nowhere near elite, but he’s a competent rotation player in the modern NBA.
At 26, he might be too old for the Hawks’ rebuild, though. They’ll favor John Collins and maybe Omari Spellman as bigs.
When teams shop bad contracts with the primary goal of acquiring an expiring contract, Muscala (and Dedmon) will give Atlanta an advantage by also being able to contribute on the floor.