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\n\t\t\tThe Hawks were humbled by the Knicks on Thursday, losing the deciding Game 6 at home by 51 points. Although obviously disappointed with Thursday\u2019s result, general manager Onsi Saleh was pleased with the progress the team made throughout 2025\/26 and he told the players on Friday that they have plenty of room for growth, per Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (subscription required).
\n\u201cThe best version of ourselves is yet to come,\u201d Saleh said. \u201cI think everybody is really pissed off, frustrated from yesterday, and that\u2019s a good thing. You got to take that, internalize that, understand what the summer entails.
\n\u201cYou feel that experience against those guys, and this is what the playoffs look like, and a lot of our guys have not done it, especially in their roles. So everybody was focused, I would say. There\u2019s a focus for next season already for our group, and that\u2019s going to be super exciting.\u201d
\nAs Williams notes, the Hawks control two first-round picks in the upcoming draft, including one in the lottery. Saleh said the team will take a best-player-available approach to those selections.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re not one player away from this,\u201d Saleh said. \u201cThe best iteration of this team is going to be through development and our players currently getting better. We\u2019re really excited about the future and what holds there, with the draft to the flexibility moving forward, all that stuff. We\u2019re in a good place (and) position, set up moving forward.\u201d
\nHere\u2019s more from Atlanta:<\/p>\n
Jake Fischer of The Stein line recently reported that the Hawks are open to extending head coach Quin Snyder, who\u2019s entering the final year of his contract. Saleh praised Snyder during Friday\u2019s media session, tweets Kevin Chouinard of Hawks.com. \u201cHe has been an unbelievable partner in all of this, and it has been so nice, just having a partner who you\u2019re so aligned with. It makes it easy,\u201d Saleh said. \u201cI understand the types of players that work for him and understand the types of guys that make sense for us as an organization, and we always have healthy dialogue. We talk every day. He\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d
\nMaura Carey of The Associated Press relays some quotes from Snyder, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson following Thursday\u2019s loss, which eliminated Atlanta from the playoffs. \u201cThis is a big learning experience, not only for myself, but just everybody in general. And I\u2019m going to take a lot from this and continue to get better from it,\u201d All-Star forward Johnson said. \u201cWe\u2019re growing. We\u2019re going to grow from this. We\u2019re going to definitely be better from it.\u201d
\nJohn Hollinger of The Athletic takes a deep dive into the Hawks\u2019 offseason, predicting that the team will probably look to trade either Zaccharie Risacher or Corey Kispert this summer after both played very modest roles in the first-round series vs. New York. The Hawks will have a lot of financial flexibility this offseason and could go in a number of different directions, but Hollinger expects the team to operate over the cap rather than with room. ESPN\u2019s Bobby Marks previews Atlanta\u2019s offseason as well, writing that figuring out what to do with CJ McCollum and Jonathan Kuminga will be a top priority.<\/p>\n