The Atlanta Hawks currently have six players under contract with the team for next season. The salaries of those players equals out to about $61 million which is slightly above the estimated cap figure of $58 million. Therefore that will leave the Hawks about $10 million to sign seven to nine players while remaining out of the luxury tax. If the Hawks are willing to pay the tax then that $10 million figure can go up.
Atlanta will pay the tax in 2012 for the first time in team history as they went slightly over the line. Atlanta made up for the move by selling off an extra second round selection for the upcoming draft at the trade deadline. Atlanta foray into the tax this year was met with criticism given that the players pushing the Hawks over the line were those like Jerry Stackhouse, Erick Dampier and Jason Collins.
All of those players were called upon to play throughout the season but it is debatable that any of their value's was worth their salary plus the tax penalty that was incurred.
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