Trae Young Swaps Atlanta for Washington in a Mega-Trade
The Atlanta Hawks have finalized a trade that shakes up the NBA, sending their star, Trae Young, to the Washington Wizards. In return, the Hawks receive CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, marking the end of an era in Atlanta and the beginning of a new stage for Young in the American capital. The move ends Young’s era as the face of the Hawks after more than seven seasons. For the 27-year-old player, this transfer takes him to his preferred destination, where he is expected to lead the Wizards. The Wizards’ management, led by Michael Winger and Will Dawkins, was looking for a leader for their young talents, and they see Young as the key element for the team’s development. This trade also represents a reunion with Travis Schlenk, an executive at the Wizards, who brought him to Atlanta in a draft agreement in 2018. The Hawks, for their part, are preparing for a new era with the development of players like Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Onyeka Okongwu, and Zaccharie Risacher. McCollum’s arrival brings experience and leadership to the team. This change also gives Atlanta greater financial flexibility to pursue major acquisitions in the coming months, with Anthony Davis of the Dallas Mavericks as a possible target. In addition, the Hawks will have a valuable first-round pick in June. After the home victory against the Pelicans, the Hawks are ninth in the Eastern Conference. However, the team had a 2-8 record with Young on the court. Young’s agents, Aaron Mintz, Drew Morrison, and Austin Brown, worked with Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh to facilitate the trade. The franchise and Young’s representatives held conversations about his future for several months.Young has $95 million remaining on his contract through the 2026-27 season, with a player option in the offseason. The Wizards, after acquiring Young, will be $30 million below the luxury tax, which will allow them to seek more moves and assets, as well as free up $46 million in cap space for the summer. The Wizards do not plan to initiate extension conversations with Young immediately, and both parties will evaluate his physical condition once he arrives in Washington. Young, who suffered a sprain of the medial collateral ligament at the beginning of the season and has been dealing with residual pain from the injury, has been out of action due to a contusion in his right quadriceps that has kept him out of the last six games. He was on the bench in street clothes on Wednesday, left the bench area in the final quarter, then returned and left for the last time with about 30 seconds left, high-fiving some fans as he headed towards the locker room. Mouhamed Gueye, Hawks’ power forward, said he didn’t know during the game that the news of the trade had been made public. He had words of praise for Young.“I know everyone has questions for me that I can’t answer right now,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said after Wednesday’s victory, awaiting NBA approval for the trade.
Quin Snyder
Young is the Hawks’ historical leader in three-pointers (1,295) and assists (4,837). He led Atlanta to the postseason three times, including a run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021. Okongwu is now the only player remaining on the Hawks’ roster from that team. In 10 games this season, Young averaged 19.3 points, 8.9 assists, and 1.5 rebounds in 28 minutes per night, with 41.5% field goal shooting and 30.5% from three-pointers. McCollum, for his part, averaged 18.8 points, the most for the Wizards, along with 3.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game, with 45.4% field goal shooting and 39.3% from three-pointers. Kispert, who adds depth to the Hawks’ wings, has averaged 9.2 points and is shooting 39.5% from three-pointers in 19 games this season. Selected for the All-NBA in 2021-22, Young has career averages of 25.2 points and 9.8 assists per game. He led the league in assists last season with 11.6 per game. Young has averaged 25 points and 10 assists in two seasons in his career (2022-23, 2023-24), tied with Russell Westbrook for the second-most such seasons in NBA history (Oscar Robertson leads with five). Young has scored or assisted on 48.1 points per game in his career, second in NBA history, behind Luka Doncic (48.9). Young is the second player since the 1976-77 merger to average 25 points per game for a single team in his first 400 career games and be traded before reaching game number 500. The first was the man for whom Young was traded on the night of the 2018 draft, Doncic. The Wizards have received the sixth-fewest points per game (50.0) and the fourth-fewest assists per game (11.9) from guards this season and are 27th in offensive efficiency. The Hawks’ offense with Young on the court ranked as one of the top 15 offenses in each season since his second campaign in 2019-20, including being the number 1 offense in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Washington has a 10-26 record and is 14th in the East, but had won five of seven games before the loss in Philadelphia, where McCollum and Kispert did not participate. The Wizards haven’t made the playoffs since losing in the first round in the 2020-21 season. The Wizards’ 2026 first-round pick is protected for the top eight spots due to a previous trade with the New York Knicks. If they keep their first-round pick, they will send their 2026 and 2027 second-round picks to New York.“That’s T.Y. That’s Trae Young,” Gueye said. “When I first got here, he was one of the first to text me, welcoming me to the city, giving me a lot of advice. Obviously, playing with Trae, as a big, is like a dream come true. I love him as a person. I love him as a teammate… An Atlanta legend.”
Mouhamed Gueye
