Atlanta Hawks make key free agent move with forward Saddiq Bey

Today was the day Atlanta had to make the decision to send an $8.5 million qualifying offer to move Saddiq Bey and make him a restricted free agent. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Atlanta will not make Bey that offer and it will make him an unrestricted free agent.

Bey was a key player for the Hawks this season until he tore his ACL late in the season in a loss to the Pelicans. Atlanta acquired him at the 2023 trade deadline from the Detroit Pistons. The Hawks were unable to sign him to a rookie-scale contract extension before the start of last season and that opened the door for him to be a restricted free agent this offseason. Now, Bey will be an unrestricted free agent and free to sign whoever he wants. Wojnarowski mentioned in his report that Bey is expected to make a full recovery from his torn ACL.

There’s still a chance Bey could return to the Hawks, but it seems less likely now. It’s still unclear when Bey will be able to return to the court next season and Atlanta could have a somewhat crowded frontcourt. They drafted Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 pick in this week’s NBA draft, still have De’Andre Hunter and Jalen Johnson, and could bring back Garrison Matthews and Vit Krejci depending on what happens today. Matthews has a $2.2 million team option that the Hawks haven’t made a decision on and the Hawks can tender Krejci a qualifying offer today. Another thing to keep in mind is that qualifying offers count toward the apron and if the Hawks had made the qualifying offer, they would have pushed against the first apron.

Last season, Bey averaged 13.7 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game for the Hawks. He played in 63 games, including 51 as a starter. He shot a career-low 31.1 percent from three-point range this season.