Onyeka Okongwu’s New $62 Million Deal Gives Hawks Flexibili
It went down to the wire – all the way into the final hours of rookie extension deadline – but the Atlanta Hawks managed to lock up Onyeka Okongwu to a surprisingly modest contract, beginning in the 2024-2025 season, worth $62 million over four years.
To those who can’t be bothered to do the math, that’s $15.5 million per season for a player who has been grotesquely underutilized, and who start on at least a handful of teams around the NBA.
The Hawks needed to do this, for a multitude of reasons, but chief among them to keep themselves flexible long-term.
With Clint Capela still on the roster, it would be untenable to have two high earners occupying the center position. By signing Okongwu to an extension that doesn’t kick in until July, the Hawks buy themselves a full NBA season to once and for a while reach a consensus on who to move forward with.
Okongwu, who played 23.1 minutes last season and put up 9.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks, while connecting on almost 64% of his shots, is just 22 years old and further internal improvement is certainly expected of him.
On a per-minute basis, Okongwu has improved his scoring and rebounding average every single season, as has gone from being a liability at the free throw line to a 78% foul shooter.
More importantly, Okongwu is fouling less and the trajectory is heading in the right direction.
At 6’8, Okongwu is agile enough to slide down to the four when the situation demands it, but in Atlanta he isn’t likely to get a ton of burn at that position given the presence of Jalen Johnson, De’Andre Hunter, and Saddiq Bey.
Atlanta’s roster crunch opens up a door to another conversation: A future trade.
By extending Okongwu, the Hawks not only avoid restricted free agency hell, but Okongwu’s full Year 1 salary of his new extension is able to get traded on July 1st without having to go through a full season of poison pill status.
Basically, that means Atlanta can field offers during the entire season, and execute a trade on July 1st, 2024, with Okongwu’s outgoing salary counting as 100% as opposed to 50% under poison pill restrictions.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the Hawks are already planning on flipping Okongwu elsewhere. It seems obvious that the franchise will spend this season comparing the services of him and Capela, and make a call when a decision is reached.
From a financial perspective, however, choosing Okongwu would make the most sense.
Not only will Okongwu be significantly cheaper than Capela, who will earn $22.2 million in 2024-2025, but he will also be on the upwards trajectory, whereas Capela will turn 30 next year.
As such, the Hawks must bake in expected improvements, and expected drop-off, for both players. They need to spend this season carefully monitoring where both players are, and where they’re headed, and make those check-ins frequently.
Overall, Atlanta got away with a tremendously team-friendly deal here. Okongwu isn’t expected to ever cost even 10% of the salary cap, and if he becomes a high-end starter, Atlanta will have one of the league’s biggest bargains on their roster
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