John Collins Atlanta Hawks
Photo: Nick Wass/Associated Press

John Collins believes he deserves to get a max contract extension with the Atlanta Hawks.

The young forward expressed his desire to stay in Atlanta, but he thinks he should become the face of the team.

“When we’re talking max numbers and money, I feel like I definitely (am in) the conversation to have earned that money with the Hawks specifically, but obviously I know there’s business and we don’t always get exactly what we want. But I want to be a Hawk, I want to stay with the Hawks.

I feel like we’ve both invested ourselves in each other… I feel like we both want to see our investments in each other pay off. In that sense, I just want to know where I am.

I want to know I’m locked in as soon as I can rather than having to wait, which I know happens, but when you do wait, a lot of other stuff mentally creeps in during the season while I’m tired, while I’m playing, ups and downs, injuries, but that’s also a part of just being a pro athlete,” Collins said in an interview with Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Collins was selected by the Hawks with the 19th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. Prior to the NBA suspension, he averaged 22.2 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.