Snubbed? The Hawks players who missed ESPN’s Top 100 list

Just before the season, there’s always something that seems to ragebait NBA fans, and it’s ESPN’s annual Top 100 list. Over the years, there have been some questionable decisions made on the list that people (including players) have had to say something about when they don’t see their names. There will always be some argument when it comes to any list, and some are valid. Others might need a little more convincing.

The Atlanta Hawks had four players to make the list this upcoming season, as Lu Dort came in at 100, CJ McCollum at 87, Nickeil Alexander-Walker at 41 and Jalen Johnson at 22. People can debate on if those players are ranked correctly, but that’s not the biggest problem here.

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The problem is that the players who actually should’ve made the list didn’t. Those players would be Dyson Daniels and Onyeka Okongwu.

Okongwu has seemed to be one of the more underrated players at his position, which is interesting due to all of things he can do on the court. He had a career-year last season, averaging 15.2 points per game and shooting 37.6 percent from the 3-point line. Among centers, he had one of the best 3-point percentages, and he took over five a game.

Defensively, Okongwu once again showed the ability to guard multiple positions if need be, which helped elevate the Hawks’ defense. The argument that he’s too small to play center continues to come up anytime he faces an actual 7-footer, but nobody talks about how the Hawks are a better rebounding team when he’s on the floor.

ESPN might not take this into account either, but Okongwu was the one constant in the Hawks’ rotation last season. Through all the injuries and trades that they had at the center position, he remained consistent, and that led him to play the most minutes of his career at 31.0. Okongwu should’ve been somewhere on the Top 1o0, and it may be safe to say he got snubbed.

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If not seeing Okongwu on the list was disappointing, then not seeing Dyson Daniels may have caused an uproar for some.

There were a lot of interesting takes about Daniels’ last season, and it always started with his 3-point shooting. 18% is not good for…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/snubbed-hawks-players-missed-espn-110000620.html

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Publish date : 2026-09-27 11:00:00

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