We assembled these five players as a traditional starting lineup – meaning two guards, two forwards and a center. So if your favorite Hawks star was omitted, he might simply have been stuck behind another player at his position.
Atlanta Hawks All Quarter Century Team Members
Trae Young (2018 to Present)
Current backcourt dynamo Trae Young is the only contemporary Atlanta player on our list of top Hawks over the past 25 years. The modern Hawks franchise has pretty much run through the on-court stylings of Young, who was drafted fifth overall in 2018 out of Oklahoma. He has spent his entire 483-game NBA career in Atlanta. To date, Young has racked up 43.3 win shares on 43.3% shooting, averaging 25.3 points and 9.8 assists per game. He led the NBA in assists per game this season, at 11.6, making his prop value high at NBA betting sites. Atlanta has not reached the NBA Finals during Young's tenure, but Young led the Hawks to the Eastern Conference final in 2021 (a defeat to the eventual NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks) before first-round flameouts in 2022 and 2023. The three-time All-Star has made himself the center point of today's Atlanta offense.
Joe Johnson (2005 to 2012)
A veteran of 1,277 games in the backcourts of Atlanta, Brooklyn, Phoenix, Utah, Boston, Miami and Houston, Johnson had his longest NBA tenure as a member of the Hawks organization, where he suited up 508 times between 2005 and 2012. In Atlanta, the guard averaged 20.9 points per game and racked up six All-Star Game appearances, earning 44.7 of his 82.9 career win shares. For all of that, Johnson is among the top Hawks players of the past 25 years as deemed by RotoWire, where you will find top sports betting promo codes.
Josh Smith (2004 to 2013)
Another under-the-radar star during his time in Atlanta, Smith cut his teeth on defense, notching a runner-up finish and six top-25 appearances on the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year ballot from 2006 to 2012. During his time in Atlanta, Smith averaged 15.3 points per game and compiled 47.6 win shares (out of the 51.0 he had in his 894-game NBA career). Smith closed out his playing career bouncing from Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles and New Orleans, but he'll always been associated with the Atlanta Hawks, where he starred for the better part of nine seasons. In that time, the club reached three Eastern Conference semifinals among six postseason appearances in an era just before online NBA betting apps were widely available.
Paul Milsap (2013 to 2017)
A second-round pick out of Louisiana Tech in 2006, Milsap went on to star in Atlanta, making four straight All-Star Games after arriving from the Utah Jazz in 2013-14. The power forward averaged 17.4 points and 8.3 rebounds with the Hawks in four seasons, the best numbers of his 16-year career. During 297 games in Atlanta, Milsap was a one-man tour de force in the paint, making the NBA All-Defensive Team and finishing fifth in the league's Defensive Player of the Year race in 2015-16, dominating opposing forwards. Each of Milsap's four ASG appearances came during his four seasons with the Hawks, speaking to the value he had with Atlanta from 2013 to 2017.
Al Horford (2007 to 2016)
The final man to make our list of top Hawks since 2000, Al Horford, was drafted third overall by the franchise in 2007 out of Florida. The center played for Atlanta from 2007-08 through 2015-16. During that time, the 6-foot-9 big man out of the Dominican Republic made four All-Star Game appearances, was second in NBA Rookie of the Year voting (2008) and made the All-NBA third team in 2011. The wily veteran is still lacing them up with the Boston Celtics at age 38, but many associate Horford as a legend in Georgia. That's why RotoWire, your best bet for sports betting apps reviews, gave Horford a spot on the Hawks All-Quarter-Century team.
