Atlanta Hawks trade former first-round pick to Houston Rockets

AJ Griffin just completed his second NBA season with the Atlanta Hawks.

The former Duke star only appeared in 20 games and finished the regular season averaging 2.4 points per game while shooting 29.0 percent from the field and 25.6 percent from three-point range .

THURSDAY, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski It was reported that Griffin was traded to the Houston Rockets.

Via Wojnarowski: “ESPN Sources: The Atlanta Hawks are trading defender AJ Griffin to the Houston Rockets for the 44th pick in Thursday’s NBA draft. Griffin, 20, was a 2022 first-round pick out of Duke.”

Griffin showed promise in his rookie season.

After being selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, he averaged 8.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game while shooting 46.5 percent from the field and 39.0 percent from three-point range in 72 games (12 starts).

Therefore, the Rockets could get a good deal, considering he’s coming off a bad season.

As for the Rockets, they finished the 2023-24 season with a 41-41 record, which places them 11th in the Western Conference.

They missed the NBA playoffs for the fourth straight season, but it looks like they’re on the verge of being able to end the drought over the next two seasons.

Meanwhile, the Hawks finished the year as the tenth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 36-46 record.

After losing to the Chicago Bulls in the play-in tournament, they missed the NBA playoffs for the first time since the 2020 season.