On Tuesday evening, the Atlanta Hawks pulled off the biggest upset of the young NBA season by defeating the Boston Celtics in TD Garden despite not having Trae Young and several other key pieces in the lineup. In Young's absence, Dyson Daniels stepped up with the best game of his career thus far, registering 28 points and completely taking Jayson Tatum out of the game on the other end of the floor.
The win raised eyebrows around the league and caused some to envision a future in which the Hawks move forward without Young in their long term plans. Recently, noted Young critic and Celtics fan Bill Simmons took to his own “The Bill Simmons Podcast” to throw out a wild proposal for how the Hawks should handle the situation moving forward, via Jackson Caudell of Sports Illustrated.
“What if I offered you Trae Young sixth man? Just Trae Young coming off the bench. He is a heat check guy coming off the bench for us, 22 minutes a game. Oh you're not happy? Too bad,” said Simmons. “…I don't know, I am just trying to figure out outs for them because I think they know they are the team I saw tonight is the team they should be.”
Should the Hawks move Trae to the bench?
No.
Trae Young remains one of the best pure playmakers in the NBA, and it's no coincidence that the team almost always falls apart the second he goes to the bench, with Tuesday being the exception and not the rule.
However, it is worth considering that Young is now squarely in the prime of his career, while most of Atlanta's other key pieces–namely Daniels, Jaylen Johnson, and first overall pick Zaccharie Risacher–are all 22 years of age or younger. It's not outside the realm of possibility that the Hawks would be open to moving Young and fully embracing their youth movement, even though they don't have access to their own first round pick this year due to the Dejounte Murray trade of 2022.
While Young is one of the elite offensive engines in the league, he can be a tough player to build around due to his obvious limitations on the defensive end as well as the heliocentric nature of his offensive game.
Still, there is a better chance of Bill Simmons rooting for the Los Angeles Lakers than there is of the Hawks bringing their best player in franchise history off the bench.
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