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When the Atlanta Hawks parted ways with Diamond Stone earlier this week, the expectation was that there was another move coming from Travis Schlenk and the front office. On Friday afternoon, word broke from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the club had agreed to a one-year pact with forward Luke Babbitt.
Free agent forward Luke Babbitt has agreed to a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 4, 2017
Babbitt’s primary value comes in the form of his shooting ability and the 28-year-old has converted 43.8 percent of his three-point attempts over the last three seasons combined. It should be noted that Babbitt does not have the best reputation as a defensive player and is more of a specialist but, for what is a reasonable contract (as the vast majority of one-year deals are), it makes sense.
Later, Mike Scotto of Basketball Insiders brought word that Babbitt’s contract is for the veteran’s minimum.
Atlanta Hawks and Luke Babbitt have agreed to a one-year, $1.9 million deal, a league source told @BBallInsiders. ESPN first on agreement.
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) August 4, 2017
One of the chief concerns with Atlanta’s offense a year ago was a lack of floor-spacing and players like Babbitt, Ersan Ilyasova and Marco Belinelli can help to address that. In the grand scheme, Babbitt is not an “impact” player by any stretch but, when it comes to filling out the roster, this is a move that could provide positive value both on the whole and in the development of Atlanta’s young assets by providing extra room to operate.
Stay tuned.