The Atlanta Hawks have done as good a job revamping their roster in the offseason as any team in the NBA. Entering the summer as a team stuck in the play-in purgatory, the Hawks made savvy moves to position themselves as a home-court advantage team in the Eastern Conference. The additions of Kristaps Porzingis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Luke Kennard give Atlanta its best roster during the Trae Young era.
And it looks like they are not done adding to the roster. HoopsHype's Michael Scotto reported on Thursday that the Hawks signed 22-year-old sharpshooter Caleb Houston to a one-year deal. This move puts Hawks veteran Vit Krejci on thin ice.
JUST IN: The Atlanta Hawks and Caleb Houstan agreed to a one-year deal, sources told @hoopshype. The 22-year-old shot 50.7% from 3-point range after the All-Star break and has improved his 3-point shooting in each of his first 3 NBA seasons. Agent Jason Glushon finalized the deal pic.twitter.com/LHRtPEMaTO
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) July 17, 2025
Hawks Poach Sharpshooter Caleb Houstan from the Orlando Magic
Houstan became a free agent this summer after spending the first three seasons of his career with the Orlando Magic. On the deep Magic roster, Houstan had a small role as a three-and-D wing, averaging 14.4 minutes per game in his 168 appearances for the team. He was tasked with guarding multiple positions while providing spacing and shooting for a team that desperately needed it. In fact, out of 578 shots Houstan took as a pro, 489 of them were three-pointers, highlighting his specialist role for the Magic.
The fact that the former second-round pick only hit 37.2% of those three-point attempts was the reason Orlando didn't want to retain Houstan. The Hawks, on the other hand, certainly hope that the career-high 40% mark he hit last season will be Houstan's new norm.
The reason this move bodes poorly for Krejci is that the Czech guard essentially plays the same role for the Hawks as Houstan did in Orlando. The 25-year-old versatile veteran has been hitting over 40% of his threes over the last two seasons while averaging a little over 20 minutes per game. Krejci certainly has more ball skills than Houstan, but those may not be needed as much on a team that just signed Alexander-Walker and Kennard, in addition to Dyson Daniels.
Krejci is on a partially guaranteed deal with the Hawks for the 2025-26 season after signing a four-year, $10.1 million deal last season. If Houstan proves to be the sharpshooter Atlanta is looking for, the Hawks could choose to move on from Krejci before his $2.3 million salary for the season becomes fully guaranteed in January 2026.