Atlanta Hawks re-signing former Kentucky forward Jacob Toppin

Jacob Toppin is running it back with the Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks announced Thursday night that Toppin has agreed to a two-way contract with the franchise ahead of the upcoming 2025-26 season. The former Kentucky forward only appeared in one game for the Hawks in 2024-25 after being claimed off waivers, but he did see 16 games of action as a member of the New York Knicks before being waived on March 2 and later picked up by Atlanta.

Terms of his new deal were not disclosed, but we know he’ll be alternating between the NBA and the G League throughout the season.

Toppin’s lone game with the Hawks was an impressive one, too. The 6-foot-8 native of New York scored 17 points in 27 minutes during the season finale against the Magic. Now, he’ll have another chance to prove himself in Atlanta as he enters his third professional season. Toppin is currently on the Hawks’ Las Vegas Summer League roster alongside Lamont Butler. Their first game is on Friday.

After four college seasons (the first at Rhode Island, followed by three at Kentucky), Toppin went unselected in the 2023 NBA Draft. He eventually signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Knicks in July 2023, which was converted into a two-way deal that October. His NBA debut came that December, although he finished with only nine games played as a member of the Knicks in 2023-24.

Toppin has done the bulk of his post-college work in the G League for the Westchester Knicks and College Park Skyhawks. Across 65 games in two seasons playing in the G League, he’s posted per-game averages of 19.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.9 assists in 35.6 minutes of action. Back on a two-way deal with the Hawks for next season, he’s likely to see plenty of run in the G League once again.

While at Kentucky, Toppin was mostly a role player off the bench during his first two seasons (2020-22), but developed into a full-time starter and important piece to the roster as a senior in 2022-23. He averaged 12.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per outing under John Calipari, shooting 46.3 percent from the field along the way.

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