The Atlanta Hawks still have one more preseason game. And since it's the second half of the season in back-to-back games, there's a chance the starters will be ready for pre-season. If so (more on that later), the Hawks should feel like they have all the information they need about their next steps.

Hawks general manager Landry Fields said the Hawks' roster is a work in progress, and two players he may not have been thinking about when he made those comments should be now.

This is not a declaration that Capela cannot contribute to a winning situation, nor that it cannot happen for the Hawks. Their respective terms do not have to end tomorrow, nor are they likely to.

Instead, this is simply an indication that the Hawks are accepting what has become increasingly clear over the past few seasons.

Capela is in decline.

He came through six minutes into the Hawks' loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday and was sidelined with ankle soreness. Capela started 73 games in 2023-24 and has exceeded the 70-game mark twice in the last three seasons and has played more than 60 games four years in a row.

In fact, only twice in his career has Capela made fewer than 63 appearances in a season, so concerns about his durability are somewhat overblown.

According to Stathead, he has the ninth-most starts among centers since entering the league in 2014-15.

It's also clear that neither he nor his teammate De'Andre Hunter are increasing their trade value. They are what they are at this point in their respective careers: useful players with significant salaries and injury histories. Hunter is locked up until 2026-27.

Complicating factors for Capela are age and the fact that he is in the final year of a two-year, $46 million contract.

However, the Hawks are not the same team without him.

The Hawks are 142-133 with Capela in the lineup and 19-24 without him since his arrival in 2020. Their record with him in the last two seasons (68-70) is still better than without him (9-17), so their record with him in the last two seasons is still better than without him (9-17). Hawks between a rock and a hard place.

While the Hawks appear to already have a replacement for Hunter in rookie No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher, even if that is still in the future, there are questions behind Capela.

Onyeka Okongwu has continued to develop each season and even added the three-ball to his arsenal in recent offseasons.

As an active, athletic defender, he offers more switching options than Capela, especially on the perimeter. But when Capela is undersized — he is, especially against the big leagues — Okongwu is essentially a small-ball center.

He also had durability issues.

Okongwu has played at least 60 games once in his career – last season. He has not yet taken part in any preseason games.

He underwent surgery for a toe injury in April and was only deemed “on the mend” when his health was questioned. Given the quick turnaround, Okongwu seems unlikely to make the final.

This is an unfortunate development for the Hawks.

This has taken away at least some of their ability to assess where they are in a potentially opportune time to continue their youth movement and trade Capela.

More opportunities will arise – perhaps another team suffers an injury, creating a need that doesn't necessarily exist at the moment. However, if the predictions are correct, it could be more difficult for the Hawks to part ways with Capela early in the season.

They are expected to fight for a playoff spot again.

However, many assume they have to navigate the play-in tournament field to get there. What matters is how quickly the Hawks' fate becomes clear. But without all the data points, change is difficult.

The preseason is not the regular season. And by all accounts, the Miami Heat planned to move their starters deeper into the upcoming contest.

Still, they certainly didn't expect to be down 69-66 at halftime.

What's more, they almost certainly didn't expect the Hawks to be short-handed, shooting 13-for-19 from long range in the first two quarters. Miami still shot 40% from distance.

That's an unsustainable mark if the Hawks want to win more games next season than they did in 2023-24.

But the turning point was a 37-15 third quarter lead by their backups against the Heat starters.

It was an encouraging performance for the Hawks, whose depth was certainly in question after losing to the Philadelphia 76ers in their second preseason game.

It's clear that three-point shooting will continue to tell the story of many Hawks games this season. They ranked second in attempts and had the ninth-most deep attempts per game in the 2023-24 season.

In three preseason games, the Hawks attempted the ninth-most three-pointers and hit the 11th-most.

Their stakes are likely to increase as the season progresses with Bogdanovic, Hunter and Risacher playing.

In the upcoming attempts, it will have to pay off for the Hawks to have Hunter, Risacher, defensive player Dyson Daniels and the more defensive-oriented Jalen Johnson. If their offseason shift doesn't hold up, they'll quickly find themselves at or near the bottom of the table.

They were 13-19 and had their four-game losing streak ended on New Year's Eve 2023 when last season's calendar changed.

The Hawks rank 11th in three-point efficiency in the preseason.

The good news for the Hawks is that their opponent is ranked 17th. If this is a sign that their defensive focus is increasing, that would be a blessing. The problem is: Will the Hawks have the firepower to compete (efficiently) when these attempts inevitably fail?

The Hawks have a week between their preseason finale against the Oklahoma City Thunder and their regular season opener against the Brooklyn Nets. They can use this time to get as healthy as possible, which will hopefully lead to Okongwu getting back into the rotation.

The starters played in the Hawks' 2023-24 preseason finale.

Given that they've already dealt with injuries, it might make sense for the Hawks to take the extra day for extra rest.

Additionally, it would be wise not to take undue risks with the players on this roster if there is still uncertainty about how many of them will finish the season in a Hawks jersey. It would be tragic if a player he wanted to change got injured in a meaningless assignment.