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The Atlanta Hawks have opened up a roster spot by trading Mo Williams to the Denver Nuggets and plan to sign Gary Neal to a 10-day contract according to a report by The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Atlanta is trading guard Mo Williams and cash to Denver, league sources tell @TheVertical. Hawks will sign Gary Neal to a 10-day contract.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) January 18, 2017
The Nuggets are planning to waive Williams and will send the draft rights to Cenk Akyol to Atlanta. The move will get Denver closer to the salary cap floor.
Sources: Denver will waive Williams, whose $2.2M gets Nuggets closer to salary cap floor. Denver sends Atlanta the rights to Cenk Akyol.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) January 18, 2017
ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported Atlanta’s interest in Neal over the weekend. He appeared in three games with the Texas Legends averaging 15.3 points per game. Neal spent part of last season with the Washington Wizards where he averaged 9.8 points while shooting 41 percent from three-point range. He appeared in 40 games before being waived by the Wizards in March of 2016.
If the name Cenk Akyol sounds familiar it is with good reason. The Hawks originally drafted Akyol in the second-round of the 2005 NBA Draft. Atlanta traded his rights to the Clippers in 2014 in the Antawn Jamison trade. The Clippers dealt his rights to Philadelphia who later moved them on to Denver
The Hawks have not yet officially announced the deal but it is expected to be completed sometime on Wednesday.