ATLANTA – On Tuesday, it was all about Trae Young as the Washington Wizards faced off against the Atlanta Hawks. It was Young's first time back in Atlanta since he was traded, and he was given the proper standing ovation throughout the night for all that he had done for the franchise the past eight years.
Two days later, the Wizards faced off against the Hawks again, but this time, it was about the two guys that were traded for Young: CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. Both played well in the rematch, and they helped the Hawks to a 126-96 win.
After the game, both players spoke about their time with the Wizards, and each had a different expression of how their experience was.
Kispert was drafted by the Wizards with the 15th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. He'd been with the team since then before he was traded to the Hawks in January.
“I spent my whole career competing against these guys in practice,” Kispert said to reporters after the game. “And to do it in a different uniform now felt funny, especially two days ago. Today felt a little bit more normal. I have unbelievable relationships with the guys on the other side. I felt like it was seeing old friends that I’ve missed since the trade.”
Kispert was able to see the development and growth of the guys who are still on the team, and it felt like a bittersweet moment for him to play against them and have a good game.
On the other hand, McCollum was traded to the Wizards this past offseason and only played with the team for a few months. Ironically, his best game as a Wizard was against the Hawks in November, when he scored 46 points. That's probably the only thing he remembers from that tenure.
“It was just another game,” McCollum said. “I was there for 120 days, but it was a great time. I enjoyed my time there. The organization was great to me. Staff was great, front office, players, but I’ve moved on, and I think they’ve moved on too, and wish them nothing but the best. But just another game that we needed to win.”
It was the second time in McCollum's 13-year career that he had been traded. He knows the business of the game having been the president of the National Basketball Players Association at one point. The trade probably felt like another day at the office for him.
“I think this game meant more to [Corey], he’d been there for a long time,” McCollum said. “For me, I had a cup of coffee and tea there. I had to figure out the directions on how to get to the facility without a GPS, and then I got traded.”
As for Kispert, this was the first trade of his career, and there were some emotions that came with it all.
“Saying goodbye to people that you had built relationships with for four and a half years is really difficult,” Kispert said. “In the blink of an eye, I’m in a new city and playing with a new team. I felt like I was drinking out of a fire hose for a long time.”
It's safe to say Kispert is more comfortable a month after the trade, and he had the best game of his career against his former team tonight, finishing with 33 points. The funny thing is that no one knew he was close to his career high during the game except for Kispert himself.
“I didn’t expect anyone to know, I wanted to keep it on the low. Knock on wood kind of stuff,” Kispert said.
For both players, they've left a situation where the organization is focused on building their young guys, and this was going to be a bridge year for them. They're now with a team that is also building around their young players but looking to compete. McCollum and Kispert offered two sides of the same coin, and they can be satisfied with where they are now.
