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Report: Hawks finalizing deal to send PF John Collins to Jazz

The Hawks have finally moved on from the power forward and he’s going to Utah.

John Collins #20 of the Atlanta Hawks looks on during the game against the Boston Celtics during Round One Game Six of the 2023 NBA Playoffs on April 27, 2023 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.  Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images

The Atlanta Hawks are trading PF John Collins to the Utah Jazz, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Jazz will receive Collins, who is set to make $78 million over the next three seasons. Utah will send SF Rudy Gay and a future second-round pick to the Hawks as part of the deal, per Woj. Atlanta is basically dumping the salary of a borderline All-Star to gain cap flexibility to build for the future around PG Trae Young.

Collins has three years on his contract and a player option for the final season worth $26 million. He will be a $25 million cap hit this upcoming season and $26 million the following season. Young and De’Andre Hunter are signed through 2026-27 with the PG on a max deal. Hunter signed an extension, which kicks in for 2023-24 at a cap hit around $20 million. Moving Collins allows the Hawks to add another superstar to their roster to play alongside Young.

For the Jazz, the franchise is going through a major rebuild and has a lot of assets to play around with moving forward. Collins will have a home where he can get a lot of minutes and usage. Utah was in need of a wing/power forward to eat up minutes alongside Lauri Markkanen. Collins will make for an interesting trade deadline piece, more likely to be dealt in 2024-25.