NBA insiders and oddsmakers have taken note of the recent moves made by new Atlanta Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh, who hasn’t been bashful about upgrading the roster ahead of the 2025-26 season that looks wide open for Eastern Conference teams.

The Westgate SuperBook had Atlanta with 100/1 odds to win the 2026 NBA Finals on June 24, but that number was reduced to 30/1 by July 2. FanDuel had the Hawks at 31/1 on Saturday afternoon, with the fourth-shortest odds (+950) to win the East.

The first deal was acquiring Kristaps Porzingis in a trade with the Boston Celtics, who received Georges Niang and a second-round pick. In the three-team trade, the Hawks also shipped Terance Mann and the #22 pick in last week’s NBA Draft to Brooklyn.

There’s minimal risk in this move. For starters, the team got rid of Mann’s awful contract. Secondly, the 29-year-old Porzingis is in a contract year.

Therefore, Atlanta gets a highly motivated player with lots of upside if he can stay healthy. If it doesn’t work out, the Hawks are left with plenty of cap room to add an elite player in the summer of 2026.

Porzingis gives Atlanta rim protection – the 7-foot-2 Latvian product has averaged 1.8 blocked shots per game in his nine-year NBA career – and another effective 3-point shooter around Trae Young. He buried 41.2 percent of his 3-pointers for the Celtics last year.

Saleh signed Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard as free agents. Alexander-Walker inked a four-year deal worth $62 million, while Kennard signed a one-year contract for $11 million.

Atlanta sent Minnesota a 2027 second-round pick via Cleveland as part of the sign-and-trade move to get Alexander-Walker, who averaged 9.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game for the Timberwolves last season. He drained 38.1 percent of his treys.

Many consider Alexander-Walker to be one of the league’s top perimeter defenders. He gives the Hawks size with his 6-foot-5 frame and long wingspan, he’s in his prime at the age of 26 and he can slide over to point guard when needed.

In Game 2 vs. Golden State in the Western Conference semifinals, Alexander-Walker hit 4-of-6 shots from 3-point range and scored 20 points in Minnesota’s 117-93 home win. He had 23 points, four rebounds, two steals and six assists compared to only one turnover in the T-wolves’ 128-126 Game 4 home loss vs. Oklahoma City in the West finals.

The 29-year-old Kennard is an eight-year veteran who has averaged at least 11.0 PPG four times. He averaged 8.9 points, 3.3 assists (compared to 1.1 turnovers) and 2.8 RPG for Memphis this past year.

Kennard made 43.3 percent of his 3-pointers for the Grizzlies in 2024-25. His 43.8 percent career marksmanship from downtown is ranked #1 among active NBA players.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Young reached out to both Kennard and Alexander-Walker to recruit them this past Monday night.

Saleh probably did his best work on the night of the NBA Draft, though. Atlanta wanted Asa Newell, who grew up in Atlanta before his family moved to Destin, Florida, when he was 10.

The 19-year-old Newell turned pro after leading Georgia to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in a decade as a true freshman. The 6-foot-10 power forward averaged 15.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocked shots per game.

Newell hit 54.3 percent of his field-goal attempts and 74.8 percent of his free throws. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week four times.

Atlanta had the #13 pick in the draft, but it moved down 10 spots to #23 in a trade with New Orleans. Saleh was still able to get his target in Newell at #23, but the coup of the deal was what he got in return from the Pelicans.

New Orleans inexplicably shipped the Hawks an unprotected first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. The selection will actually be the best pick between the Pelicans and Bucks next summer.

New Orleans has just begun a major rebuild under Joe Dumars, so the Hawks appear poised to have fleeced the Pelicans for a lottery pick.

Atlanta has struggled to get stops throughout the Trae Young Era, but the new-look Hawks have added quality defenders and all sorts of length. The starting lineup will probably include Young, Dyson Daniels (NBA Defensive Player of the Year runner-up), Jalen Johnson, Zaccharie Risacher and Porzingis.

Onyeka Okongwu, Kennard, Newell, Alexander-Walker and Mouhamed Gueye will be their top reserves.

Before going down with a season-ending injury, the 23-year-old Johnson was playing like an All-Star in his fourth year. In 36 games, he was averaging 18.9 points, 10.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.0 BPG. He was making 50.0 percent of his FGAs, too.

After another season that ended in a loss in the NBA Play-In Tournament, the question going into the offseason was whether Atlanta would decide to end the Trae Young Era. Instead of doing so, the Hawks have surrounded him with the best collection of defenders and 3-point shooters that he’s had in his career.

They’re dramatically improved going into a season when East powers Indiana and Boston are going to be without their best players in Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum, respectively, and Milwaukee is in flux after releasing Damian Lillard, losing Brook Lopez in free agency and giving Myles Turner a big contract.

Perhaps most important, the Hawks are left with all sorts of flexibility in terms of the salary cap moving forward and, oh yeah, that likely lottery pick they stole from the Pelicans.

If his first offseason in charge was some sort of test run, Onsi Saleh has aced it.