It seems the Atlanta Hawks have some sort of link to every available guard out there, and the next on the list is Mo Williams, coming off and injury riddled season with the Utah Jazz.

Williams averaged 15 points and 7.2 assists last season for the Jazz, but the two sides have no interest in continuing the relationship, or at least not at the salary Williams is asking for. He made $8.5 million last season in Utah, but he hasn’t played 70 games since the 2008-2009 season (there was one shortened season, in his defense), and entering his 11th NBA season, few teams, if any, think he’s worth that kind of money.

However, with the Hawks busy considering sign & trades that ship Jeff Teague to the Milwaukee Bucks while either Monta Ellis or Brandon Jennings arrive in his place, Williams becomes a much cheaper and almost as productive option, especially when compared with Teague, even though he’s quite young.

The Hawks have Lou Williams on their roster for next season, who also missed quite a lot (43 to be exact) games last year, and averaged 14.1 points per game. The thought process on this one is probably that Mo Williams and Lou Williams together (L. Williams makes $5.2 million next season) will cost what Teague is asking in his re-signing, and probably less, not to mention Jennings or Ellis, both looking for multiyear, eight figure salary.

The Hawks have already added one Utah Jazz player in Paul Millsap this offseason, but they’re not done making moves, and still have quite a lot of cap space to use. There’s no long term plan for the Hawks in terms of giving up on next season and sorta tanking while getting rid of big contracts. The Hawks want to continue and be a playoff team, and in the weak East, it doesn’t take too much to get that far.

Adding Mo Williams, and hoping both he and Lou Williams will stay healthy for an entire season, is a good way to get back to it after losing Josh Smith.

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