The 2026 NBA Draft is close to a month away, and the Atlanta Hawks are in a good position to come away with an impact player.
Atlanta is one of two playoff teams with a lottery pick, and the Hawks are also armed with the No. 23 overall pick. For a team that won 46 games and pushed the Knicks to six games in the first round of the playoffs, having two picks, including a top ten pick, is a huge asset.
But how will the draft play out? After the top four, anything seems possible, but here are three dream scenarios for the Hawks in next month’s draft.
1. Oklahoma City moves its first round selections (No. 12 and No. 17) to move into the top ten of the draft and Atlanta still lands Aday Mara
The Thunder are currently battling the Spurs for the crown in the Western Conference and are going for repeat championships, but they have an interesting roster dilemma to solve this offseason.
Right now, OKC could bring back everyone from this roster if they wanted to pick up everyone’s team options and have their roster set at 15 players. But, they also have three picks coming up in the draft. So what will the Thunder do? Will they trade their picks for future picks, consolidate their picks to move into the top ten, or make hard decisions about players on their roster already?
If the Thunder want to move both picks to get into the top ten, I would think that Onsi Saleh and the Hawks would be very interested. Atlanta could have up to three first-round picks, and while I don’t know that they would use all of them and carry three rookies on their roster, they would have optionality and could even use the No. 23 pick to package along with someone like Corey Kispert to move off of his money or use it for something else.
Michigan center Aday Mara has become a popular player for the Hawks to select in mock drafts and it is not hard to see why. Mara would fill the hole that the Hawks have at center and bring size, interior defense, and rim protection to this team. It seems very unlikely that he makes it to 12, but this is why it is called a dream scenario.
The Thunder have decisions to make and the Hawks should help them if they can.
2. Illionis Guard Keaton Wagler falls to No. 8
After the top four picks, the board is open and the expectation is that four guards (Keaton Wagler, Darius Acuff Jr, Kingston Flemings, and Mikel Brown Jr) will be at the top of the board. The Hawks are guaranteed one of those players to be there (unless a team in the top four does something shocking) and the Hawks will have their pick of who is left over.
Wagler feels like the one who is least likely to be there, along with Acuff Jr, and I think he is the one who fits the Hawks best. He measured in well at the combine, and there are questions about his athleticism and explosiveness. Wagler is the kind of scoring threat that the Hawks need to pair with the core of Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, and Onyeka Okongwu long term.
Could the Hawks move up to get him? It is possible, though I think that Saleh is going to be patient and let the draft play out. If Wagler fell, it should be an easy call for this team.
3. Christian Anderson, Bennett Stirtz, or Jayden Quaintance falls to No. 23
This comes with an asterisk. Quaintance’s biggest question coming into the draft is his injury history and if he is at No. 23, it could be a bad sign.
These three players are expected to be gone by the time the Hawks are on the clock at No. 23, but any of them would be fantastic picks. Anderson and Stirtz give the Hawks a solution at guard while Quaintance fills a big need for a defensive center. It would not shock me if Atlanta tries to move up from No. 23 to try and acquire one of these players.
