The Trae Young era in Atlanta is over, with the former All-Star reportedly moving to the Washington Wizards to restart his career.
Heading to Atlanta are C.J. McCollum and Corey Kispert, with no draft picks involved.
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Let’s try to approach this deal from both sides.
atlanta hawks
Look, the Hawks clearly prefer big contracts centered around draft picks and young players, but this type of deal has never materialized, Young has a $49 million player option for next season, and his reputation as a winner has often been questioned.
That doesn’t mean it’s addition or subtraction. Acquiring McCollum and Kispert isn’t a bad choice, and the deal improves when you consider that McCollum’s contract is expiring, meaning the Eagles will replace Young’s $49 million next year with just $13.9 million on Kispert’s contract.
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(That number will need to be added if they re-sign McCollum, but he’ll likely sign for far less than the $30.6 million he’ll make this year.)
Atlanta gained much-needed financial flexibility in the deal and is now committed to building around Jaren Johnson, recognizing that Young will always get in the way of roster building around the emerging 24-year-old star.
Atlanta now enters a new future where defense, cohesive offense and unity should be the main features of the new tomorrow.
grade: B+
washington wizards
Oh boy. This could go a lot of directions for the Wizards.
Young, accustomed to offense, could slip into his worst tendencies, hurting the development of Washington’s young core, which primarily includes Alexander Sarr, Ke’Shaun George and Trae Johnson.
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Alternatively, Young could view this as a fresh start and an opportunity to redefine himself as a more team-oriented point guard who can optimize his shot selection and try to be better off the ball in order to share the wealth.
If the Wizards somehow convince Young to decline his player option next season to sign an extension worth $35 million per year, the deal would be much easier. That kind of salary commitment would allow the Wizards to take a larger role in free agency or make a bigger trade over the summer.
We’ll see what they do from a contract standpoint, but immediately offering Young an extension close to the value of his player option would be a bad idea because it would clog Washington’s salary cap.
grade: Liquid B
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general idea
Young is great, and the Wizards clearly didn’t give up much to get him, which makes this a good gamble. But there’s a reason Young was able to sell at this price, which is why things are fluid from their perspective in terms of grading the deal.
We should all hope that Young can use this trade as motivation to develop his game for the better and help the players around him. The pull-up 3-pointers on the logo need to go away, and more off-ball shots should be prioritized for the team to improve.
If nothing else, this will be very interesting to track.
