Paul Millsap Sign-and-Trade Options Reportedly Explored After Dwight Howard Deal

The Atlanta Hawks are reportedly exploring the possibility of executing a sign-and-trade deal involving All-Star forward Paul Millsap. 

According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst (h/t Ryne Nelson of Slam Online), Atlanta has received feelers regarding a potential sign-and-trade for Millsap, with the Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets all showing interest.

On Tuesday, Atlanta traded center Dwight Howard and the No. 31 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft to the Charlotte Hornets for Miles Plumlee, Marco Belinelli and the No. 41 overall selection.

Millsap is set to hit free agency in July, and Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk suggested last week that the team likely isn't willing to offer him a max contract, per Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

"We are going to make Paul our best offer. Will he have better offers? I don't know. Do we want to keep Paul? Sure. I said last week, if you are building a team with all the things I've said, Paul checks all those boxes. He's a hard-worker. He's a good guy. He's high-character. Skilled. He does all that stuff. We'd like to have him. The reality is, he might get better offers than we can make him."

Windhorst said the Howard trade signaled the start of a rebuild for Atlanta, and dealing Millsap would be a continuation of that. 

The 32-year-old veteran has been named an All-Star in each of the past four seasons as a member of the Hawks. In 2016-17, he averaged a career high 18.1 points per game to go along with 7.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.3 steals.

Atlanta has reached the playoffs 10 seasons in a row, but it has made it as far as the Eastern Conference Finals just once during that time, and the Hawks were bounced in the first round last season.