Monta Ellis planned to discuss a long-term contract with the Atlanta Hawks, RealGM's Shams Charania reported last week. Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas added on Monday night that the Hawks are "expected to be in the mix" for Ellis.
Hawks considering Monta Ellis, but fit will be difficult
The Hawks are reportedly in the hunt for Ellis, but acquiring Ellis will likely come at the cost of DeMarre Carroll or Paul Millsap.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Ellis opted out of his $8.7 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks for next season, and he'll likely be seeking a raise. Atlanta could use a player who can create his own shot, but Ellis might not be the best fit and acquiring him would almost certainly mean the departure of either Paul Millsap or DeMarre Carroll. All signs point to Millsap staying, so Carroll would be the likely casualty if it came to that.
The Hawks could theoretically have close to $25 million in cap space, but that goes out the window if Millsap and Carroll are retained. Atlanta may even have to carve out more cap space in order to sign both players. The Hawks are limited in how far over the cap they can go to retain both players because they are coming off short-term deals. With Carroll set for a big raise and Millsap possibly seeking a full maximum contract (starting at around $18 million), Atlanta won’t then have space for Ellis.
In that case, only a sign-and-trade could get Ellis to the Hawks, but the Mavericks likely wouldn’t want to take back any salary in a deal. If Carroll were to leave, Atlanta could make a decent offer for Ellis with whatever’s left over after paying Millsap.
However, if Carroll were to walk and Millsap were to sign for less than the maximum salary using something called the early Bird exception (this starts around $16.6 million), the Hawks could use cap space to sign Ellis to a larger offer and then go over the cap for Millsap.
All this to say that it’ll be difficult mechanically to get Ellis to Atlanta, and that’s before considering the poor basketball fit.
See More:
