Hawks acquire, waive Derrick Walton Jr. from Clippers

After executing multiple maneuvers this week — headlined by the acquisition of Clint Capela and the return of Dewayne Dedmon — the Atlanta Hawks entered Thursday with two open roster sports. In relatively short order, word broke that the front office would make use of a bit of that flexibility, with Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reporting that the Hawks will acquire Derrick Walton Jr. in a deal with the L.A. Clippers.

Despite the wording of the above report, the cash would seemingly be coming from the Clippers to the Hawks in the deal, with Atlanta having no reason to send it to Los Angeles. Furthermore, the Hawks have to send something to the Clippers, though it could be a “fake” second round pick or the rights to a player wholly unlikely to appear in the NBA.

In fact, Chris Haynes of Yahoo reports that $1.3 million will change hands, with the Hawks sending a second-round pick to L.A.

Later, John Hollinger of The Athletic confirmed that the money will be sent from the Clippers to the Hawks, with the aforementioned “fake” second round pick.

From there, the Hawks will reportedly move on from Walton Jr. immediately.

Walton is owed $1.445 million for this season, and the former Michigan guard is at least mildly intriguing. However, the Hawks have three point guards already on the roster in Trae Young, Jeff Teague and Brandon Goodwin, lessening any need to acquire help at the position.

Depending on how the Hawks order their transactions, they could be active again before the 3:00 pm ET deadline. Provided Walton is indeed waived, though, Atlanta will have two roster spots to utilize.

Stay tuned.