{"id":155117,"date":"2025-08-16T16:35:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T20:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=155117"},"modified":"2025-08-16T16:35:27","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T20:35:27","slug":"hawks-make-unprecedented-contract-offer-rfa-nfaly-dante","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/08\/16\/hawks-make-unprecedented-contract-offer-rfa-nfaly-dante\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawks Make Unprecedented Contract Offer To RFA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Hawks are one of the teams that dramatically improved this offseason. However, the <em>drama<\/em> didn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n<h2>Hawks Make Unprecedented Contract Offer To N\u2019Faly Dante<\/h2>\n<p>On Saturday, the Hawks signed Houston Rockets restricted free agent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/n\/nfalyda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">N\u2019Faly Dante<\/a> to a two-year, $4.5 million offer sheet, according to HoopsHype insider Michael Scotto. The Rockets aren\u2019t expected to match the offer sheet. Indeed, the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/danielle_lerner\/status\/1956755198400970816\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">writing (was) on the wall<\/a> that they expected Dante to depart\u201d after signing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisjd01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">JD Davidson<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/crawfis01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Crawford<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/harrike01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevon Harris<\/a> to two-way contracts, Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle reports. Aside from that, they \u201cdo not currently have enough room under their first-apron hard cap to match the offer sheet,\u201d per Spotrac capologist Keith Smart\u2019s calculations.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Just In: The Atlanta Hawks have agreed to a two-year, $4.5 million offer sheet with Houston Rockets two-way restricted free agent N&#8217;Faly Dante, league sources told <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hoopshype?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@hoopshype<\/a>. He averaged 15.1 points on 74.3% shooting, 9.8 rebounds, 2.2 blocks, and 1.0 steals in the G League. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PIjcA0q7ip\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/PIjcA0q7ip<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeAScotto\/status\/1956753918219669723?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Dante is \u201cthe first two-way player to sign a standard offer sheet with another team since two-way contracts began\u201d in 2017, Smart adds. Now, he\u2019s set to become Atlanta\u2019s third-string center, backing up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/porzikr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kristaps Porzingis<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/okongon01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Onyeka Okongwu<\/a>. Given their injury history, he may even get real playing time.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">By my numbers, the Rockets do not currently have enough room under their first-apron hard cap to match the offer sheet N&#8217;Faly Dante signed with the Hawks.<\/p>\n<p>I believe Dante is the first two-way player to sign a standard offer sheet with another team since two-way contracts began.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KeithSmithNBA\/status\/1956755660508725435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Porzingis has played fewer than 60 games in seven of the last eight seasons. Okongwu has played fewer than 60 games in three of his five career seasons.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word on N\u2019Faly Dante<\/h3>\n<p>At 6-foot-11 and 230 pounds, Dante averaged 6.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 12.8 minutes per game when called-up last season. In the G League, he averaged a near double-double with 15.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. He added 2.2 blocks and 1.0 steal per game for good measure.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_155135\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-155135\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-155135\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/IMG_8214-300x200.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/IMG_8214-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/IMG_8214-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/IMG_8214-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/IMG_8214-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/IMG_8214-2048x1366.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/IMG_8214-600x400.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/08\/IMG_8214-1200x800.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-155135\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Feb 16, 2025; Eugene, Oregon, USA; Former Oregon Duck center and current NBA G league player N\u201a\u00c4\u00f4Faly Dante on the court after the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Matthew Knight Arena. Mandatory Credit: Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t bad for an undrafted rookie. It was right up the alley for a player who averaged 17.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game in 2023-24. As a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/college-sports\/basketball\/recruiting\/player\/_\/id\/230225\/nfaly-dante\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">top-30 high school recruit<\/a>, Dante\u2019s slow growth at Oregon may have impacted the outlook on his ability.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"N&#039;Faly Dante Posts 14 PTS, 11 REB, and 7 BLK Double-Double In Vipers Win\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1ZioZ6ppk_E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, his combination of length, shot-blocking instincts and finishing ability is still valuable to NBA teams. It\u2019s clearly worth $4.5 million to the Hawks.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Hawks are one of the teams that dramatically improved this offseason. However, the drama didn\u2019t stop there. Hawks Make Unprecedented Contract Offer To N\u2019Faly Dante On Saturday, the Hawks signed Houston Rockets restricted free agent N\u2019Faly Dante to a two-year, $4.5 million offer sheet, according to HoopsHype insider Michael Scotto. The Rockets aren\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":155136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1608,31,62,3],"tags":[49640,50251,297],"class_list":["post-155117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-rockets","category-nba","category-news","tag-nfaly-dante","tag-nba-contract","tag-nba-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155117"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155138,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155117\/revisions\/155138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}