Veteran point guard Trae Young's days with the Atlanta Hawks are numbered, and the Washington Wizards can leverage that situation to aid their rebuild. However, they should only trade for the four-time All-Star if they don't give up anything important in return.
NBA insider Marc Stein reported on Monday that the Wizards “have emerged as a legitimate potential trade destination” for Young, with negotiations centered around veteran guard CJ McCollum's expiring contract. ESPN's Shams Charania then reported that Young and his camp are working with the Hawks on a trade.
From Washington's perspective, acquiring Young would be a higher-profile version of last year's Marcus Smart trade. The Memphis Grizzlies sent the Wizards a lottery-protected first-round pick in exchange for absorbing Smart's unwanted salary, and the Wizards later turned that pick into 6-foot-9 guard Will Riley out of Illinois.
Similar to that trade, Washington wants draft compensation as payment for taking on Young's contract, per ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel.
“However, the Wizards have signaled that they hold no interest in sacrificing any young assets in a trade for Young, league sources said,” he reported. “The inclusion of young talent in a deal for Young is something the Hawks desire, especially given Washington's request for draft compensation to be included by Atlanta.”
“These two teams talked recently about a McCollum-Young swap, a deal that would immediately open financial flexibility up for the Hawks in the offseason,” he continued. “The Wizards have made it clear they would need additional draft value from the Hawks if they were to facilitate such a trade, prompting Atlanta's rebuttal for one of Washington's recent draftees to be included.”
“This grouping of players the Hawks were likely discussing, which has not been confirmed to ClutchPoints by both parties, likely includes Bilal Coulibaly, Kyshawn George, and Tre Johnson,” he continued.
Wizards must only do Trae Young trade as salary dump
Washington has no reason to give Atlanta any of its core young players or first-round picks, as it has all the leverage. The Hawks want to shed Young's contract, which is worth $46 million this season and includes a $49 million player option for next season, per Spotrac. Meanwhile, the Wizards have the most salary cap space (per Spotrac) to absorb the 27-year-old's contract both this year and next, assuming he opts in.
If Atlanta doesn't accept that Young is a negative asset that is unlikely to fetch anything valuable in return, then Washington can simply walk away. Siegel reported that a trade between the two teams “is not imminent” as of now given the Wizards' unwillingness to part with key assets.
However, the trade deadline isn't until Feb. 5, and the Hawks could even wait until next year's deadline to strike a deal if Young opts in. The question is, how long do they want to wait?
Trading Young this season would give Atlanta immediate salary cap relief ahead of an offseason in which it possesses the New Orleans Pelicans' first-round pick, which will likely be in the top 10. In that case, it could add another star like Anthony Davis in addition to acquiring one of the best prospects in a loaded draft class. Doing the trade now would enable them to add that other star this season, possibly in a three-team deal with the Wizards and another squad.
Additionally, the Hawks are 2-8 with Young (quadriceps) in the lineup and 15-13 without him. They're better off building around 24-year-old forward Jalen Johnson, who is averaging 23.7 points on 52.1 percent shooting (36.7 percent 3-point) with 10.4 rebounds and 8.4 assists across 35.5 minutes.
Young is supremely talented, as he owns career averages of 25.2 points on 43.2 percent shooting (35.1 percent 3-point) with 9.8 assists over 34.3 minutes. But the former Oklahoma Sooner's 6-foot-2 stature makes it hard for him to contribute defensively, which isn't ideal in today's era that favors two-way players and positional size.
That's why it makes sense for Young to audition for a new contract in Washington for the next year-and-a-half, as the squad could temporarily live with his defensive deficiencies due to his ability to open up looks for teammates. Going forward, he could create wide-open shots for Johnson, George, Coulibaly, Riley, center Alex Sarr, guard Bub Carrington, and whoever the Wizards get with their top-eight protected lottery pick this summer, which would help them develop.
Here's a salary dump deal that makes sense for Washington once Atlanta finally caves:
Wizards get:
- G Trae Young
- 2026 first-round pick (SAS, CLE, MIN or UTA swap rights)
Hawks get:
- G CJ McCollum
- F Corey Kispert
Adding Kispert's $13.9 million salary to McCollum's expiring $30.6 million salary makes the money work in this trade and would give Atlanta a reliable scorer off the bench moving forward. Kispert, 26, averages 10.9 points on 47.5 percent shooting (38.3 percent 3-point) over 25.5 minutes over his career and is on a team-friendly contract. Washington doesn't need him long-term, so losing him would not be tragic.
Meanwhile, the Wizards would add another first-round pick to their war chest of assets. In this scenario, they would enter the summer with their lottery pick, another pick that will likely be the Oklahoma City Thunder's first-rounder, the first-round pick from this Young trade (which will likely be the Cleveland Cavaliers' pick), and four second-rounders. That's a lot of draft capital to use either for more trades or adding prospects.
Washington could also rest Young for extended stretches late in the season if it were in danger of rising above the bottom four teams in the NBA standings, which is where it must finish to guarantee the retention of its top-eight protected pick. The pick will go to the New York Knicks if it falls out of the top eight due to a series of previous trades, including a deal by the Wizards' last administration that sent John Wall to the Houston Rockets for Russell Westbrook in 2020.
Washington's financial flexibility enables best-case scenarios like the one above to be possible, but it depends on how badly Atlanta wants to clear its books.
