The Atlanta Hawks are making a significant long-term bet on Corey Kispert. According to reports, Atlanta has reached an agreement with the Washington Wizards to acquire the sharpshooter, a move that shifts immediate focus to Kispert’s newly signed contract and what it signals about the Hawks’ roster direction.

The timing is striking. The ink on Kispert’s four-year, $54 million extension has barely dried, and he’s fresh off thumb surgery, yet Atlanta is prepared to absorb his deal as part of a broader reshuffling tied to Trae Young’s reported interest in Washington. What initially surfaced as speculative noise has now materialized into a transaction with real financial and on-court implications.

For the Hawks, Kispert is no short-term flyer. His contract represents a calculated investment in shooting gravity, off-ball movement, and lineup scalability – betting that his skill set translates cleanly alongside Atlanta’s core and justifies the commitment well beyond this season.

Corey Kispert’s Washington Wizards Contract

On January 7, 2026, the Hawks and Wizards finalized a blockbuster trade for Trae Young. In exchange for the All-Star guard, the Hawks gain veteran guard CJ McCollum and 26-year-old sharpshooter Corey Kispert.

McCollum is at the end of his existing contract on a $30.7 million salary. Kispert signed a four-year, $54.05 million rookie-scale extension in October 2024.

He’s in the first year of that contract and has a team option in the fourth, presenting the Hawks the opportunity to build a wing-heavy rotation for the remaining years of both McCollum and Kispert.

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Corey Kispert’s salary

The Wizards selected the Gonzaga alum 15th overall in the 2021 NBA draft. His first NBA contract was a four-year deal worth $16.36 million. His 2024 extension was designed with a declining salary structure to maximise the Wizards’ cap flexibility. Now the Hawks get to capitalize on that.

He gets a guaranteed $40 million for the next four years and an average annual salary of $13,500,000.

Corey Kispert’s current salary structure

Corey Kispert’s past salary (Washington Wizards)

Corey Kispert’s injury history

The Wizards might be the winners in this deal. Trae Young has $95 million remaining on his existing contract through the 2026-27 season. He also holds a player option in the offseason.

After acquiring Young, the Wizards will move $30 million below the luxury tax. That still leaves an open roster spot to pursue another trade and clear $46 million in cap space for the summer. It’s worth noting that there were no draft picks included in this deal.

The team option provides Hawks with a potential out in case Kispert is injured. He suffered a season-ending injury in March 2025 and missed the remaining 16 games of the season. He underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb.

The trade comes at a complicated time for Kispert, who has struggled to bounce back from that surgery. He returned for the 2025-26 season only in November and missed 10 consecutive games with a fractured right thumb.

He returned this December only to leave the game early with left hamstring tightness.

He has missed five of the last six games, is still experiencing hamstring issues, and was subsequently traded within the first week of 2026.

Despite his low usage, Kispert offers shooting efficiency as high as 49% from the field across 19 games this season. It apparently makes the Hawks comfortable with his medical history, as Kispert could be a great backup to Bogdan Bogdanović.

But Atlanta would have to wait for Kispert to suit up. Medical experts estimate his likely return to be at the end of January.