Atlanta Hawks make key free agent move with forward Vit Krejci

Today was an important deadline for the Atlanta Hawks for a number of reasons. One of them was about emerging forward Vit Krejci and whether or not to extend him a two-way qualifying offer. The Hawks made the easy decision to extend Krejci a two-way qualifying offer according to Lauren Williams at the AJC, making him a restricted free agent now. Atlanta can now match any offer that another team presents in front of Krejci.

This was a pretty easy decision for the Hawks considering how good Krejci was towards the end of the season. Due to the injuries the Hawks were dealing with across the team, Krejci was forced to play a lot down the stretch, including starting a few games. He played in 22 games last season, including 14 starts and averaged 6.1 PPG, 2.4 RPG, and 2.5 APG. He shot 49% from the field, including 41% from three. At 6’8 195 LBS, Krejci has emerged as a wing with size and shooting that the Hawks lacked. His best performance came in the Hawks’ huge comeback against the Boston Celtics, a game in which he scored 16 points, including 13 points in one quarter. He was 4-7 from three that night.

What could Krejci’s role be on this team? The Hawks got bigger and better on the wing and at the point of attack early this offseason. They drafted Zaccharie Risacher with the first overall pick and just acquired Dyson Daniels in the Dejounte Murray trade. De’Andre Hunter is also still on the team. Krejci is young and showed potential last season, but that was also in a very small sample size. There’s no clear path for him to play a lot of minutes this season, but that could change. I think the Hawks made the right choice today in extending him.

The Hawks made some big decisions today with their free agents. They didn’t make a qualifying offer to Saddiq Bey, making him an unrestricted free agent, and they picked up the $2.2 million team option for Garrison Matthews, bringing him back for another season . Krejci