Hawks clinch top-six seed, secure playoff return after turbulent season

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Hawks are back in the playoffs and, for the first time since 2021, they are headed in without the Play-In Tournament.

Atlanta secured a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference, marking its first direct postseason berth in three years after spending much of the 2022–25 stretch fighting through the Play-In format.

This season did not unfold in a straight line.

A midseason roster shift — including a seismic move away from Trae Young — forced the Hawks into a recalibration that immediately raised questions about identity, leadership and direction. At the time, the expectation around the league was that Atlanta would slide. Instead, it stabilized.

What followed was not dominance, but enough consistency to stay above the Play-In line in a crowded conference. Even so, the move permanently altered the ceiling and timeline of the franchise, leaving an unavoidable question hanging over the organization: what exactly is this team now?

The answer, at least in the short term, has come from emergence rather than star consolidation.

Dyson Daniels has become one of the defining forces of the group’s identity shift, impacting games with defense, pace control and playmaking pressure that doesn’t always show up in scoring lines but consistently swings possessions. Jalen Johnson has taken another leap as a two-way centerpiece, delivering length, rebounding and point-forward creation that has quietly become the backbone of Atlanta’s most reliable lineups.

CJ McCollum has provided late-game shot creation and veteran composure, stabilizing stretches when the offense has stalled. Nickeil Alexander-Walker has carved out a meaningful two-way role, especially in perimeter defense and secondary ball handling. Onyeka Okongwu has strengthened his interior presence, giving Atlanta more stability at the rim and on the glass.

Zaccharie Risacher has also shown flashes of why the organization is invested in his long-term development, even through the natural inconsistency of a young wing adjusting to a larger role.

Together, that group has not replaced a single superstar so much as redistributed responsibility — and that shift has kept the Hawks afloat in high-pressure moments.

Still, the broader reality remains blunt.

This is not a finished roster. It is not a settled identity. And it is not yet a proven contender.

Atlanta has earned its playoff spot through adaptability and collective buy-in, but the long-term outlook is far from clear. The post-Young direction has opened flexibility, but it has also removed certainty.

With the last game of the 2025-26 regular season is against the Heat in Miami scheduled for Sunday, April 12, 2026, at 3:00 PM ET. Atlanta will enter the postseason with more questions than answers about what comes next — whether this group is a bridge to another era or the foundation of one still being built.

What is certain is this: they are no longer chasing the Play-In.

Everything beyond that remains to be defined.