Rudy on ATL absolutely should be a 55 win team…especially in the east. They have a better roster than the Jazz. The median expectation for this Jazz team should be about 55 if Rudy was returning. Should be the same for the Hawks.
This trade would effectively switch the positions of the franchises. It’s favorable for the Hawks because Trae doesn’t want to leave and they have good young wings around their duo and didn’t trade all their picks dumping contracts.
The Hawks, like many other teams, will not have cap space going forward. They can’t just sign a supermax player of their choice. Given the choice between two solid $20M players and Rudy, Rudy is almost always going to deliver more value. The Hawks are just one example, but you go down the list of rumored teams and there’s just not easy ways for them to get a better player than Rudy.