Atlanta Hawks complete three-team trade, acquire Stone, Crawford

FINAL Update: The Hawks officially announced the acquisition of Diamond Stone, Jamal Crawford and a 2018 first-round pick, by way of Houston.

GM Travis Schlenk indicated, "As we continue to focus on maintaining flexibility and adding assets, this deal accomplished multiple goals and made a lot of sense for us. First round picks have great value and Diamond is an intriguing, young player to add to our group."

At this time, there is no mention of Jamal Crawford, lending credence to the notion that a buyout could be in the works. Stay tuned.

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Update #2: The reported deal has been agreed to, per a report from Chris Vivlamore of the AJC.

The deal reportedly includes Atlanta sending a 2019 second-round pick, acquired from the Washington Wizards in the Tim Hardaway Jr. trade, in exchange for Jamal Crawford (buyout/trade interest pending), Diamond Stone and Houston’s top-3 protected 2018 first round pick.

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Update: The most recent reporting on negotiations is that Millsap will not be directly involved in the swap, though his presence looms large. Atlanta would receive Crawford, Stone, a first-round pick and additional money, while sending out a second-round selection (unsure on which year) to Denver. Stay tuned.

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At midnight on Monday evening into Tuesday morning, we published an article outlining a three-team trade setup that would allow the Atlanta Hawks to net something in return for Paul Millsap signing with the Denver Nuggets. Just moments later, word of such a deal broke, even if potentially not in purely identical form.

First, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN brought word that Danilo Gallinari could be heading to the Los Angeles Clippers via a sign-and-trade with the Nuggets.

From there, things quickly pivoted to the inclusion of the Atlanta Hawks as a third team in order to facilitate such a move. For the team’s trouble, the Hawks will reportedly receive young big man Diamond Stone, veteran shooting guard Jamal Crawford and a first-round pick.

Such a move would also reportedly require a buyout or secondary trade of Crawford, who seemingly has no desire to return to the Hawks for another tour of duty.

The big prize, from a Hawks perspective, would be the top-3 protected 2018 first round pick, first owned by Houston. Atlanta’s war chest of draft picks is already strong with an extra pick in both 2018 and 2019 but, given the apparent direction of a rebuild, it makes perfect sense that Travis Schlenk would be looking for to a way to add for the future.

Aside from that, the addition of Diamond Stone could be interesting. The former Maryland center was the No. 40 overall pick in 2016 and, at the age of 20, there is some semblance of upside for the future.

As for Crawford, the 37-year-old guard is owed $14.2 million for the 2017-2018 season and $14.5 million for the 2018-2019 season. It should be noted, though, that Crawford is only guaranteed $3 million for the 2018-2019 season, which could ease the facilitation of a buyout or trade.

Beyond that, it appears that the details of the move are still being ironed out, indicating that things could (slightly) change in the coming hours and days. The Atlanta Hawks are still losing Paul Millsap but, for their trouble, it looks like the team will add a future pick and a potentially interesting young center. Stay tuned.