Across national NBA coverage, the Hawks were not celebrated for the moves that they made at the trade deadline. The focus of that centered on Atlanta trading De'Andre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the midst of his career season. A lot of questions were being asked as to why the Hawks would make themselves worse in a year in which they owe their unprotected pick to the San Antonio Spurs.

The reality might be different than what most were talking about on the day of the deadline though. While Hunter was no doubt the best player in any move the Hawks made last Thursday, Atlanta got back some very useful players for their team and they have made their presence felt in the first two games they have played in.

I will admit that it is a small sample size so far and I am not here to say the Hawks are vindicated for moving Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic, but you can see the vision that general manager Landry Fields and head coach Quin Snyder had for the guys that they acquired.

In their first games as members of the Hawks this past Saturday vs the Wizards, Niang got the start and played 26 minutes. Niang was the one player who was probably going to be a seamless fit due to having been familiar with Snyder's system in Utah, but it went about as well as you could have imagined. Niang shot 4-7 from, scoring 16 points, pulling in six rebounds, and three assists. He was a +18 on the court and gave the Hawks much-needed spacing around Trae Young at the forward spot. The Hawks have gone through stretches of being among the worst shooting teams in the league and Niang is going to help them get out of that group. He had eight points and four rebounds last night vs the Magic.

LeVert got in foul trouble on Saturday vs the Wizards and his impact was limited, but he bounced back in a big way last night vs Orlando. He scored 18 points on 6-11 shooting (3-7 from three) in 32 minutes of game time. He showed he can give the Hawks a second ball handler and scorer off the bench, one of the Hawks biggest weaknesses all season.

Terance Mann did not light up the box score on Saturday vs Washington, but he showed he has high-level defensive skill and a knack for making the right pass at the right time. Last night vs the Magic, he went 4-4 from the field and 3-3 from three, scoring 12 points and playing really good defense. Mann is going to be useful for the Hawks to deploy against some of the league's best offenses as another high-level defender alongside Dyson Daniels and if he is shooting the ball like he did last night (obviously he won't shoot 100% every night), his impact could be the highest of these three players.

I am not here to declare the Hawks winners of the trade deadline after just two games with their new roster, but it is not hard to see how this team could be a little bit better down the stretch. The Hawks are now No. 8 in the Eastern Conference and only 1.5 games out from No. 6 and three games out from No. 5. Don't count out Atlanta just yet when it comes to making the playoffs.

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