Trae Young trade grades: Hawks and Wizards both do well in blockbuster

Trae Young’s time as an Atlanta Hawk is officially over. Wednesday, the four-time All-Star was traded of the only NBA team he ever knew, the Washington Wizards for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert.

On the surface, the agreement is somewhat strange. Why would the Hawks trade a superstar like Young without getting back any young players or draft picks? And why would a Wizards team add such an expensive veteran halfway through a long rebuild so far? Well, for reasons we’ll cover in our notes below, the deal actually makes quite a bit of sense for both parties.

Atlanta Hawks: B+

It has become clear throughout this season that the Hawks are ready to move forward without Young on their roster. They are just 2-8 with him on the floor this season and 16-13 without him. The Young-less Hawks defended better than ever with the small and defensively indifferent Young on the court. They pass the ball more. Jalen Johnson is headed to his first All-Star appearance, Nickeil Alexander-Walker has broken out with more opportunities with the ball, and with a high lottery pick coming out of New Orleans, Atlanta saw an opportunity to pivot around a style and schedule that fits the other players on their team more than Young, dominating the ball.

Let’s be clear from the start: this was cap dumping. By making this move, the Hawks go from a team projected to start the offseason above the cap to a team that could have as much as $30 million or so in reserve if it wants. Atlanta has more moves to make, and it couldn’t make them with a $49 million player option due to a point guard they basically didn’t want anymore.

So what’s next? The obvious answer is a trade with Anthony Davis. They’ve been linked to the Dallas big man for weeks, and if the price is right, they could very easily pull the trigger. Moving Young first allows the Hawks to add Davis without worrying about the luxury tax or finding appropriate depth next season. While he doesn’t exactly fit the timeline of the remaining young Hawks, he certainly checks the defense and athleticism boxes they’ve been leaning on this season.

However, a Davis trade is by no means a necessity. It’s entirely possible that the Hawks simply wanted to redistribute Young’s money to multiple players. Let’s assume they enter next offseason with around $30 million in cap space. They could try to use most of it to draft a backup guard, someone like Coby White from the Chicago Bulls, with the idea that they could get 80-90% of Young’s production at half the price. The Hawks still need shot creation from their guards. They just might not want to pay top dollar to get him from a player as flawed as Young. They will also have a mid-level exception worth around $10 million to use at depth as well, potentially a center to replace Kristaps Porziņģis.

Here, the sky truly is the limit for Atlanta. The most expensive player on next year’s roster is Jalen Johnson, at $30 million. We exist in an NBA in which some teams have two or three players whose salaries are between $40 million and $50 million. Depth is a priority for many of the older, heavier contenders. Atlanta now has the opportunity to build a complete, versatile roster that is also financially viable in the apron era. We don’t know what comes next, but we do know that the Hawks are extremely well positioned to build the type of team they want.

And don’t sleep on the players they acquired in the deal, regardless of cap issues. Corey Kispert had a rough year in part due to injuries, but think about the last few young veterans to leave Washington. Daniel Gafford arrived in Dallas and escaped. Deni Avdija arrived in Portland and now he’s going to be an All-Star. The Wizards have been one of the NBA’s most dysfunctional franchises for years, and while they have improved in some ways as they have rebuilt, they are still mostly devoid of veteran talent. Kispert’s shooting will be more valuable on a better team than for the Wizards. He doesn’t have an Avdija-style jump in him, but he’s making less than mid-level exception for the next three years and he fills a role the Hawks know they need because they paid Luke Kennard $11 million to fill him this season.

McCollum is likely a temporary, but welcome addition. As we’ve seen, the Hawks need some measure of shot creation from their guards, they just didn’t want it to come from someone who hogs the ball to the same degree as Young. McCollum is a happy medium. He’ll come in, generate offense, space the floor for Atlanta’s more athletic forwards, and generally play a low-maintenance style. He’s a 34-year-old impending free agent, so he’s probably not part of Atlanta’s long-term plans, but he will help this year’s team and could potentially stay afterward as part of a team-friendly deal if both sides like their partnership for the remainder of the season.

Washington Wizards: B-

The Hawks had real reason to be concerned about paying Young $49 million next season. Wizards don’t do it. Their roster is so cheap that even after this deal, they have the ability to create over $47 million in cap space this offseason. Depending on where they are drafted, that number could be even higher. Currently, Young is one of only two players on the entire Wizards who is under contract for next season, but not on a rookie deal. The other player is Justin Champagnie, a former undrafted free agent with a multi-year minimum contract. A $49 million player option is nothing for the Wizards. They can still do pretty much whatever they want.

As a game of pure talent, you simply can’t beat this price. The Wizards got the All-Star four times at 27 without giving up a single draft pick. He’s missed some time this season with a sprained MCL, sure, but he’s generally been pretty healthy. His contract is brief. He will be a free agent after this 2026-27 option. If the Wizards had extended Young before seeing him play for them, this rating would be much lower. As things stand, they have taken virtually no risks. The potential reward is unclear. All of Atlanta’s concerns about Young apply to other teams as well. But it’s not like the Wizards paid a heavy price or locked in Young with this trade. They’re looking at a former All-Star. If he makes it, so much the better. Otherwise, they can let him go quite easily.

In the meantime, the main benefit of adding Young is creating offensive structure. The Wizards have emphasized selecting raw athletes with their lottery picks. Players like Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly have shown great promise, but are in dire need of someone to create easy looks for them. Young guards Tre Johnson and Bub Carrington are the primary scorers, and the team’s best playmaker right now is probably second-year wing Kyshawn George.

All of them can theoretically benefit from Young’s presence. They will have the ball less, but when they have it, they will be able to do more. They will be able to evolve in an ecosystem in which they will have a leader capable of collapsing the defense and creating advantages. At the very least, then, Young is a set of training wheels. He’s going to make life easier for these promising Wizards before they’re ready to step up and run the offense on their own. If the Wizards determine by the summer of 2027 that these players are ready to lead the team on their own, again, they can simply let Young go. For now, they are still crawling. They must learn to walk before they can run, and Young can guide them through that process. Washington currently ranks 27th in offense. They died a season ago. These are not optimal developmental circumstances.

The obvious fear here is that Young uses up so many possessions that Washington’s outgoing prospects find themselves looking at the ball rather than engaging in the play. That’s a reasonable concern and why we’re not praising the trade. Young can be a difficult player to play against. But the general manager who drafted the youngsters in Atlanta, Travis Schlenk, now works for the Wizards. They know what they’re getting into and the cost is so minimal that they can pull the plug at any time.

The other concern? Washington owes a protected top-eight first-round pick to the New York Knicks. For now, this choice is safe. The Wizards have the fourth-worst record in the NBA as of this writing, meaning they can’t pick lower than No. 8. But climbing higher in the rankings and the choice is mathematically risky. Reach beach #7 or #8 and suddenly the risk of losing the pick becomes mathematically significant. As it stands, the Wizards are just three wins behind the Clippers for the eighth-worst record in the NBA. If Young comes in and immediately plays well, there is some risk here.

But remember, the Wizards didn’t make this trade in a vacuum. They know they owe this pick, and according to Fred Katz of The Athletic, they’ve been “obsessed” with keeping him. If they have to engage in late-season shenanigans to lose games, don’t be surprised if they do. Additionally, the Wizards started the season 3-20 and have been 5-6 since. It’s also possible that the simple disruption of bringing Young into the mix disrupts this rhythm. The Wizards will have to learn how to play with Young, after all, and if it had been easy, well, the Hawks probably wouldn’t have traded him.