The Atlanta Hawks have waived point guard Sharife Cooper, the team announced today.

Last year, the Hawks selected Cooper with the No. 48 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Cooper didn't play much during his rookie season in Atlanta, averaging just 3.0 minutes per game across 13 appearances.  

However, he did play 22 games in the NBA G League last season, averaging 17.1 points, 6.9 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.6 threes and 1.0 steal, while shooting 43.1% from the field, 36.1% from three and 90.7% from the free-throw line.

Recently, Cooper struggled during NBA Summer League action in Las Vegas, which likely factored into the Hawks' decision. Across five Summer League games, Cooper averaged just 4.4 points, 4.2 assists, 1.2 rebounds, 0.4 steals and 0.4 threes, while shooting just 18.9% from the field, 18.2% from three and 66.7% from the free-throw line. This was a major step back from his Summer-League production as a rookie, when he averaged 14.8 points, 7.3 assists and 1.3 threes on .463/.333/.667 shooting splits. 

Cooper is now an unrestricted free agent.