Editor’s note: Over the next five weeks, the Iowa State Daily sports editors will be doing a series of why every team that has a top 10 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft makes sense for Tyrese Haliburton and why he would want to play with them.

I think when we look back on draft night, I think the Atlanta Hawks might be THE landing spot for Tyrese Haliburton. There is just so much for both sides to like about this potential pairing.

You combine a weak conference with a really fun and growing roster, the Atlanta Hawks might be just one piece away from its goals.

Why the Hawks want Tyrese

As I previously mentioned, the Hawks may have missed the playoffs and ended in the lottery again, but I think this team should feel good about what it has going forward.

A roster with Trae Young, Cam Reddish, John Collins and De’Andre Hunter may not be producing the win totals the Hawks are looking for, but this group has a lot of talent and might need that final piece to take it to the next level.

But even with Young as the clear No. 1 point guard, the depth behind him is shaky to say the least and there is room for another guard to join the mix.

That’s where Haliburton comes in.

Young is the clear point guard for this team and you might be thinking why would the Hawks want to take away ball handling duties from its young star? All you have to do is look back at Haliburton’s freshman year and see just how good he can be offball.

In his sophomore and freshman season, Haliburton was lights out on catch and shoot 3-pointers and pairing him alongside Young on the court would be so fun to watch.

Young could continue to be the playmaking guard he has been in his three seasons in the league, as Haliburton waits patiently for defenses to collapse and leave him open to be the automatic shooter he was at Iowa State.

If putting the two on the floor is too much for Atlanta, the idea of drafting Haliburton is still a great move based on the guards behind Young on the depth chart.

The Hawks got Jeff Teague at the trade deadline last season but he is an unrestricted free agent. Even if the Hawks feel like bringing him back, he is not their long-term solution behind Young. There was a some buzz about Brandon Goodwin, who Atlanta got on a two-way contract from Denver, but again, the undrafted guard has been hopping from team to team over his career, making him an unreliable piece to count on.

Haliburton could become the main point guard in the second unit to build himself credibility to possibly work into the starting lineup as an off-ball guard.

Why Tyrese wants the Hawks

There are only a handful of teams in this draft that present themselves as sleepers or even true playoff contenders next season. I think the Hawks are one of those teams. 

The Hawks won 20 games last season, which I know doesn’t exactly help my case, but looking at this roster and comparing it to other teams around them in the Eastern Conference, I don’t think the Hawks will finish close to where they did last year.

Tyrese Haliburton should be locked in at the No. 6 pick because the Hawks have so many different plans for him and he would immediately become involved in a winning culture with an established core.

Unlike some other teams picking near Atlanta like Detroit, Washington or Cleveland, Atlanta has a core built and has a future in sight Haliburton should be excited about.