{"id":63219,"date":"2024-02-05T17:35:59","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T22:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=63219"},"modified":"2024-02-05T17:35:59","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T22:35:59","slug":"nba-rumors-hawks-interested-trade-young-cavs-wing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/02\/05\/nba-rumors-hawks-interested-trade-young-cavs-wing\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Rumors: Hawks Interested In Trade For Young Cavs Wing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the Atlanta Hawks needing to improve their perimeter defense, lead guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murrade01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dejounte Murray<\/a> has been cast as their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/02\/04\/nba-rumors-dejounte-murray-hawks-only-2-trade-offers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">most likely trade candidate<\/a> ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline. However, there\u2019s always the chance the Hawks make a trade that doesn\u2019t involve Murray, opting for a small and shrewd move rather than a blockbuster transaction.<\/p>\n<p>In that event, a player such as Cleveland Cavaliers wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/okorois01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaac Okoro<\/a> could find themselves in a Hawks uniform by next week.<\/p>\n<h2>Isaac Okoro to the Hawks?<\/h2>\n<p>According to HoopsHype insider Michael Scotto, the Atlanta Hawks are among several franchises with interest in Cleveland Cavaliers wing Isaac Okoro.<\/p>\n<p>Okoro, an Atlanta native, was selected fifth overall in the 2020 NBA Draft. Although his production hasn\u2019t lived up to his draft position, Okoro has long been considered an upper-echelon perimeter defender.<\/p>\n<h3>What Isaac Okoro brings to the Hawks<\/h3>\n<p>Isaac Okoro\u2019s strength, athleticism, reflexes, and aggressiveness make it difficult for many to score on him on-ball. In fact, Okoro holds opponents to a notable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/players\/isolation?TypeGrouping=defensive&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=TEAM_ABBREVIATION\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">0.95 points per possession<\/a> in isolation.<\/p>\n<p>More importantly for the Atlanta Hawks, given the defensive assignments he\u2019ll draw, he\u2019s even better in the pick-and-roll. Elite at getting through screens, Okoro is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/players\/ball-handler?TypeGrouping=defensive&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=TEAM_ABBREVIATION\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">holding pick-and-roll ball handlers<\/a> to 0.71 points per possession.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, his opponents shoot just 32.9 percent from the field when he\u2019s guarding the pick-and-roll. Lastly, he creates turnovers on 13.6 percent of the possessions that he\u2019s guarding a pick-and-roll ball handler.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, what makes Okoro an even more viable piece for the Hawks is his growth as a 3-point threat. Now in his fourth season, Okoro is shooting a career-high 37.2 percent from 3. He\u2019s shot 36.6 percent from 3 over the past two seasons, inspiring confidence in the sustainability of his efficiency.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past two seasons, 78.1 percent of his 3-point attempts have come from the corner, where he\u2019s shooting 38.2 percent. Interestingly, he has only taken 3s classified as \u2018open\u2019 or \u2018wide open\u2019 in that stretch. Nonetheless, his ability to convert those shots is important for the efficacy of an offense.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Okoro\u2019s best work offensively comes in transition, where his athleticism and body control shine on his finishes. In fact, Okoro scores 1.27 points per possession in transition <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/players\/transition?dir=A&amp;sort=TEAM_ABBREVIATION\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on 67.7 percent shooting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Okoro also uses those physical traits to make plays in the halfcourt, scoring 1.42 points per possession on cuts on 71.4 percent shooting from the field.<\/p>\n<h3>What\u2019s the Price?<\/h3>\n<p>Acquiring Isaac Okoro could cost the Atlanta Hawks as little as a prospect such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/griffaj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AJ Griffin<\/a> and light draft compensation. In the final year of his rookie contract, the Cleveland Cavaliers <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/01\/30\/nba-rumors-cavaliers-not-interested-in-trading-pair-of-all-stars\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">may hope to avoid contract negotiations<\/a> with his representation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the Atlanta Hawks needing to improve their perimeter defense, lead guard Dejounte Murray has been cast as their most likely trade candidate ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline. However, there\u2019s always the chance the Hawks make a trade that doesn\u2019t involve Murray, opting for a small and shrewd move rather than a blockbuster [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":63255,"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":[4,9,62,4721],"tags":[2842,4774,1732],"class_list":["post-63219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-cavaliers","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-isaac-okoro","tag-rumors","tag-saddiq-bey"],"modified_by":"Zach Kircher","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63219","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=63219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}