After a busy offseason, the Atlanta Hawks come into the 2025-26 campaign with much higher expectations than a season ago. The additions of Kristaps Porziņģis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Luke Kennard, and Caleb Houstan (unofficially) make this arguably the deepest team in Atlanta since their Eastern Conference Finals run in 2021. With the NBA schedule released this afternoon, here are some interesting areas on the Hawks’ path back to playoff and championship contention in a wide-open Eastern Conference.
Taking A Closer Look At The Hawks 2025-26 NBA Schedule
Two Early West Coast Road Trips Come in Handy Before a Tough Finish
After an even 5-5 split of 10 home and road games to kick off the season, the Hawks travel to Los Angeles, Sacramento, Utah, and Phoenix from Nov. 10-16 for their first West Coast trip. Last season, Atlanta went 4-4 against these squads. The Los Angeles Clippers game will be a fun watch for Hawks fans, as former Hawks players John Collins and Bogdan Bogdanović battle their old teammates. Kennard also played for the Clippers starting in 2020 before being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in 2023.
Atlanta’s second cross-country trip goes from Jan. 9-15 to Denver, Golden State, Los Angeles, and Portland. The Hawks get both long road trips out of the way before a difficult final stretch. Over the final 16 contests, 13 come against playoff teams from last season, including two matchups each against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics. Atlanta also faces the Dallas Mavericks over this stretch. They failed to advance past the Play-In Tournament last season. However, Kyrie Irving will likely play in this game after returning from a torn ACL, and with rookie sensation Cooper Flagg and a healthy Anthony Davis, it will be a challenging matchup.
But right before this difficult stretch starts, Atlanta has two five-game home stands. From Feb. 20 to March 16, the Hawks play 10 of these 11 games at home. This almost-month-long stretch is split by a road game against the Milwaukee Bucks on national television. Atlanta has three five-game home stands and two four-game road trips on the campaign.
Can Atlanta Make it Back to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup?
Last season, the Hawks won Group C to advance to the knockout round of the NBA Cup. They defeated the New York Knicks to advance to the final four in Las Vegas before falling to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Next season, the Hawks battle the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards, and Cleveland Cavaliers for Group A supremacy. Atlanta combined to go 7-6 against these teams across the 2024-25 campaign. Surprisingly, only had winning records against the two playoff teams in the group. The Hawks went 2-2 and 1-2 against the Wizards and Raptors, respectively. They need to do a better job of taking care of the games they should win on paper next season. With Tyrese Haliburton likely out for the season due to a torn Achilles, the Hawks could emerge as favorites behind Cleveland to win Group A. Atlanta went 2-1 against the Cavaliers last season, giving the first seed in the East all they could handle in an exciting season series.
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