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The Hawks have put themselves over a cliff, to a degree.

With Al Horford in unrestricted free agency, the Hawks decided not to wait for the All-Star center to make his decision. They went out and secured Dwight Howard to a three-year, $70.5 million deal. That means that they won't be left in a lurch if Horford leaves, but they're also not done pursuing Horford. They are reportedly looking to retain Horford as well... but that gives them a salary crunch and no room in the frontcourt for Paul Millsap.

So, they're trying to keep Horford... by clearing space by trading Paul Millsap.

This is a dangerous game the Hawks are playing. If Horford signs with Boston or Washington (who are the reported front-runners), then Millsap comes back knowing he was shopped, next to Dwight Howard. Howard and Millsap fit together, but not better than Horford and Millsap fit together on a team that made the Eastern Conference finals a year ago and had another good season last year.

If they retain Horford, they're trading arguably their best player in Millsap. Even if they get a good haul of young players to help clear the cap space, it's a step back. The deal for Howard itself was good; they kept it under four years, kept it under $25 million per year. But they're giving up one of two players who have been better than Howard each of the past four years.

This is a huge gamble for the Hawks, who already traded Jeff Teague for picks and took two players who were moderate reaches in the draft, giving the starting point guard duties to Dennis Schröder.

This has been one of the winningest teams in the league the past two seasons. They're going for big moves, clearly trying to find a way to be better than the team that has lost eight straight consecutive playoff games to Cleveland, but in doing so, they risk settling into being a slightly worse version of themselves.

As for suitors, expect the Wizards, Nuggets and Rockets to be interested in Millsap's services, but finding the right trade package, on a tight timeline (Horford is expected to make his decision Saturday night) will be difficult.