Hawks-Jazz trade grades: Who won deal involving John Collins, Rudy Gay?

The Atlanta Hawks have traded John Collins to the Utah Jazz, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The Jazz will send veteran guard Rudy Gay and a future second-round pick to the Hawks as part of the deal.

We'll offer our instant grade of the deal below.

Hawks: B+

After years of seemingly never-ending trade rumors, Atlanta has finally shipped off Collins and his contract worth $78 million for another three seasons. The veteran forward's stats have regressed each year since the 2019-20 season and there has always been speculation of behind-the-scenes tension between himself and star point guard Trae Young.

This trade is effectively a salary dump for the Hawks as they only got back an over-the-hill veteran in Gay along with a future second rounder. But that's a good thing for a franchise that is trying to retool some things under new head coach Quin Snyder and general manager Landry Fields. Finally getting Collins off the books gives them more flexibility to make appropriate roster moves that will help them compete.

Jazz: B

Utah gave up little in this trade and get to kick the tires on a forward that could be of use in its rebuild. Collins' regression over the past few years has been noticeable, but he's still only 25 years old with plenty of years left in his career and a change of scenery could give him a spark. As Woj mentioned in his tweet thread, the Jazz now have a formidable frontcourt with Lauri Markkannen and Walker Kessler along with Collins.

Also, this is technically somewhat of homecoming for Collins. He was born at Hill Air Force Base in nearby Layton, UT, while his mom was stationed there.

  
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