Hawks trade John Collins to Jazz for Rudy Gay and a draft pick

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN on Monday, the Atlanta Hawks have traded power forward John Collins of Layton, Utah to the Utah Jazz for forward Rudy Gay of Brooklyn, New York and a draft pick. The Jazz will be the second team Collins has played for as he spent the last six seasons with the Hawks. The Hawks will be the sixth team Gay has played for as he was with the Memphis Grizzlies from 2006 to 2013, the Toronto Raptors in 2013, the Sacramento Kings from 2013 to 2017, the San Antonio Spurs from 2017 to 2021, and the Utah Jazz from 2021 to 2023.

There is no doubt that Collins is the big name in the deal. In 2022-23 with the Hawks, he averaged 13.1 points per game, 6.5 rebounds per game, 1.2 assists per game, and one block per game. Collins had a field goal percentage of .508, three-point percentage of .292, and a free throw percentage of .803. During the 2019-20 NBA season, Collins made NBA headlines when he was suspended 25 games for taking a banned substance. 

Collins is going to his home state of Utah. Even though Collins was born in Utah, he moved around a lot growing up as both of his parents were part of the American military. Collins’s father was part of the Navy and his mother was part of the Air Force.

Expect Gay to play more of a reserve role in Atlanta. He is 36 years of age, and only had one start in 111 games with the Jazz over the last two seasons. In 2022-23, Gay only averaged 5.2 points per game, which was 10.6 fewer points per game than his career average. In Gay’s final season with the Spurs in 2020-21, he only had one start in 63 games.

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