Biggest need Hawks must still address in 2024 NBA free agency

Heading into the offseason, the biggest question surrounding the Atlanta Hawks was arguably the easiest one of all: would Trae Young be back for the 2024-25 season?

On paper, the question went as follows: after going on a serious run in 2021, the Hawks have fallen into a bit of a rut, with their record getting worse in each of the last two seasons even after acquiring DeJounte Murray from the San Antonio Spurs. Factor in a luck pull in the 2024 NBA draft lottery that saw the team land the first-overall pick and suddenly, the idea of a young movement in Atlanta seemed perfectly thrust upon the Hawks whether they liked it or not.

And yet, after a trade market failed to materialize for Young following Murray's move to New Orleans, one has to wonder if the Hawks would be wise to shift their plans from a fire sale to a “see what we have” approach, with Young starting at the one, Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu manning the paint and the combination of Jalen Johnson and french rookie Zaccharie Risacher defining the forward spots into the future.

While Young is a bad defender by any metric and has seen his points per game drop since his high point in 2021-22, he was still a very good player in 2023-24, earning an All-Star spot for his efforts while hitting 43 percent of his shots from the field, 37.3 percent of his shots from 3, and averaging 10.8 assists per game, which is the highest mark of his career. Young can still facilitate an offense, set up his teammates for success in both the half-court and full-court, and ultimately lead the team in scoring, even if he does give back some of those points on defense.

With the Hawks unable to use their 2025 first-round pick after trading it to San Antonio without any protections, Atlanta really gains nothing if they have 25 wins or 40 wins this fall but could allow their young forwards to take another step forward if they play alongside a professional facilitator in a pivotal season.

The Atlanta Hawks have two less teams interested in Trae Young

If the Hawks really want to trade Young heading into 2024, they might have some issues getting a deal done, as, according to Zach Lowe, two of the teams widely expected to have interest in his services have cooled on the idea over the past month.

“Young is potent enough to keep the Hawks around .500, and they don't have much incentive to tank so long as the Spurs control their first-round picks through 2027, thanks to the original Murray trade. The smoothest way to reclaim those picks is trading Young to the Spurs, but San Antonio has not shown much recent interest in that, sources said. The Spurs understand the potential value of those picks, and they (for now) appear to favor holding them hostage over swapping them back to Atlanta,” Zach Lowe reported for ESPN.

“The Lakers, too, have shown little recent interest in Young, sources said. That could change if the price drops to L.A.'s liking. But the market for Young is as chilly as it has ever been.”

While the Young-Spurs pairing never made that much sense, especially once they drafted Stephon Castle and signed Chris Paul, the Lakers always felt like they could be in play because, regardless of his quirks, “Ice Trae” remains one of the more popular players in the NBA and could draw the sort of attention LA fans enjoy. While a deal could theoretically still come together, for now, it appears Young will be on the Hawks on Opening Night, and the team should plan for that accordingly.

Could Trae Young's defense be impacting his trade market?

A few years back, if the Hawks put Young on the trade block, he would be one of the hottest names around and yet, in 2024, he remains in Atlanta because he simply doesn't have a competitive market among the other 29 teams in the NBA.

Why? Well, in Brad Botkin of CBS's opinion, it could come down in no small part to his lack of defensive abilities, as when a top-tier scorer like Luka Doncic can be a net negative for his team when it matters most, why would a team sign up for an even worse defender?

“Look at the Mavericks. They only became a contender in the first place because they turned themselves into a viable defensive team by trading for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford at the deadline, but in the end they were undercut by their best player's inability to defend. Doncic was outright awful at times in the Finals,” Brad Botkin wrote for CBS.

“And if arguably the best offensive player in the world can still become too defensively detrimental to win a championship, is it any wonder that nobody is trying to trade for Trae Young? Because all reporting would seem to indicate the Hawks would be happy to move him. You can stack up all kinds of numbers, but in the end the market will determine the numbers that matter most.”

While there are still plenty of teams that would happily employ Young, including the Hawks this fall, which could exceed the incredibly low expectations they have heading into the season, there is a genuine concern about his defensive abilities and how they can be exploited by an opposing team. If some team is going to mortgage their future for any player in 2024, that has to be taken into consideration.