Welp, that didn’t take long. Two days after his initial trade request and just hours after the announcement of his preferred destination, Trae Young was traded to the Washington Wizards in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. For such a star-studded deal, there isn’t a lot of shock factor here. After all, Young did publicly ask out, and the writing on the wall was in place long beforehand within the overall situation of the Hawks.
What is crazy, though, is the sharp collapse of Trae’s reputation and impact. Not even five years ago, he was taking over the city of New York and leading Atlanta to the Conference Finals. He led the NBA in total points and assists in 2021-22 while making All-NBA Third Team at 23 years old. Even last season, he paced the league with 11.6 assists per game while averaging 24.2 points. Young’s a stupendous talent, one of the best of the 2020s at the guard position. Yet, here we are, watching him getting flipped for nothing but expiring contracts. Trae once looked like one of the future faces of the league, but now he’s stuck in a weird limbo. The NBA just doesn’t value small guards who can’t play defense very much anymore. Heliocentric offenses are also on the decline. Now, Young is such a great offensive player that he’s still undoubtedly an All-Star in this league. However, with the way the sport is trending, it’s unclear what his role would and should look like on a winning team. Realistically, he can’t be a number one option for a real playoff contender anymore. Could he even be the second? Time will tell.
What’s almost certain, though, is that he’ll be a really fun addition to an intriguing young Wizards team. Washington has assembled an impressive collection of prospects, headlined by Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson and Bub Carrington. These kids have promising futures, but right now they’re playing without much leadership or structure. Young will come to town and help the youngsters get better by adding organization to the offense and generating tons of easy looks. He’ll put Washington in a better position to compete on a night-to-night basis, creating trial-by-fire opportunities for Sarr, George and company that will give them valuable experience and season them as pros.
Young is 27 years old, so he could stick around to grow with this group for the foreseeable future, but finding the right extension number for him is tricky. The Wiz would probably be unwise to throw a four or five year bag at him without first getting a good feel for how he gels with their core, but they’re set to have the financial flexibility to keep him around if they choose to.
The Hawks, despite shuffling their roster around several times, have been stuck in the middle of the pack for too long. A new era led by Jalen Johnson seems to be on the horizon, and with Young gone, the team will be able to immerse fully into their fresh future. While they continue to hunt playoff appearances in the short term, CJ McCollum will be an awesome gun-for-hire. Everyone knows what CJ does by now, and his blend of shooting and on-ball scoring will make him a smooth fit alongside Atlanta’s other starters. Because McCollum’s not a true point guard, Jalen Johnson can assume a full-time point forward role, which will be exciting to watch. Corey Kispert, the other new Hawk, had peaks and troughs during his time in D.C., but he’s fourth on the franchise’s all-time three-point makes list. He’ll give Quin Snyder another movement shooting piece to play around with. Defenders who face Kispert and Vit Krejci lineups off the bench will need to be prepared to chase through a billion off-ball screens.
Trae Young’s tenure in Atlanta was full of memorable moments. It’s going to be weird seeing him in another jersey for the first time. Overall, though, this feels like the right moment for the breakup. Brighter futures for both the Wizards and the Hawks are in the cards after this trade.
(Hot take to end things: Washington will have a better record than the Bucks in 2026-27.)
The Bench Mob Blog 