Sources: Hawks trading Trae Young to Wizards for McCollum, Kispert
The Atlanta Hawks are trading four-time All-Star Trae Young to the Washington Wizards for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, sources tell ESPN.
The trade ends Young’s stint as the face of the Hawks franchise after more than seven seasons and sends the 27-year-old to his preferred destination in the nation’s capital to become the Wizards’ point guard. Washington’s top brass, Michael Winger and Will Dawkins, have been looking for an anchor for their burgeoning young talent, and the franchise believes the trade is the next step in the organization’s development process amid a rebuild. It also reunites Young with Wizards executive Travis Schlenk, who brought him to Atlanta in a draft-night deal in 2018.
The Hawks are now poised to turn the page into a new era with the emergence of Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Onyeka Okongwu and Zaccharie Risacher, bringing a much more fluid style of play around their wings and depth. McCollum is a valuable plug-and-play veteran leader for the Hawks while holding an expiring $30.6 million contract.
Moving Young also gives Atlanta additional financial flexibility to land a significant salary over the next few months – with Dallas Mavericks star Anthony Davis as a top trade target – ahead of an incredibly valuable first-round pick in June that is the more favorable between New Orleans and Milwaukee’s selections.
At 18-21 after Wednesday’s home win over the Pelicans, Atlanta is ninth in the Eastern Conference, but the Hawks were 2-8 with Young in the lineup. Young’s agents — Aaron Mintz, Drew Morrison and Austin Brown — have been working with Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh on a trade over the past week. Representatives for the Hawks and Young have maintained dialogue about his future over the past few months, since the franchise opted not to offer Young a contract extension.
“I know you all have questions for me that I’m not at liberty to talk about or answer at this time,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said after Wednesday’s win, with the trade yet to be approved by the league.
Young has $95 million remaining on his contract through the 2026-27 season, with a player option this offseason. After acquiring Young, the Wizards will move $30 million below the luxury tax, open up a roster spot to continue pursuing other moves and assets, and clear $46 million in cap space for the summer.
The Wizards are not expected to have immediate extension negotiations with Young, and both sides will evaluate his health once he arrives in Washington, sources said.
Young, who suffered a sprained right MCL early in the season and dealt with residual pain from the injury, was sidelined with a right quad contusion that kept him out of the final six games. He was on the bench in street clothes Wednesday, left the bench in the fourth quarter, then returned and left for the final time with about 30 seconds left — slapping the hands of a few fans as he headed to the locker room.
Hawks forward Mouhamed Gueye said he didn’t know during the game that the trade news had become public. He had nothing but high praise for Young.
“It’s TY, it’s Trae Young,” Gueye said. “When I got here, he was one of the first guys to text me to welcome me to the city and gave me a lot of advice. Obviously, playing with Trae, as a big, is like a dream come true. I love him as a guy, I love him as a teammate. … An Atlanta legend.”
Young is the Hawks’ all-time leader in 3-pointers made (1,295) and assists (4,837). He has led Atlanta to the playoffs three times, including a run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021. Okongwu is now the only player remaining on the Hawks roster from that team.
In 10 games this season, Young averaged 19.3 points, 8.9 assists, 1.5 rebounds, 41.5 percent field goal shooting and 30.5 percent 3-point shooting in 28 minutes per game. McCollum, meanwhile, averaged 18.8 points, 3.6 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 45.4 percent shooting from the field and 39.3 percent from 3.
Kispert is averaging 9.2 points and 39.5% from 3 in 19 games this season and adds to the Hawks’ wing depth.
An All-NBA selection in 2021-22, Young has career averages of 25.2 points and 9.8 assists. He led the league in assists last season with 11.6 per game. Young has averaged 25 points and 10 assists in two seasons of his career (2022-23 and 2023-24), tied with Russell Westbrook for the second-most such seasons in NBA history (Oscar Robertson leads with five). Young also scored or assisted 48.1 points per game in his career, the second most in NBA history behind Luka Doncic (48.9).
Young is the second player since the 1976-77 merger to average 25 points per game for a single team in his first 400 career games and to be traded before reaching Game No. 500. The first was the man Young was traded for on draft night in 2018, Doncic.
The Wizards have received the sixth-fewest points per game (50.0) and fourth-fewest assists per game (11.9) from guards this season and are 27th in offensive efficiency. The Hawks’ offense with Young on the floor has ranked among the top 15 offenses in every season since Young’s sophomore campaign in 2019-20, including being the No. 1 offense in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
McCollum led Washington in scoring this season with 18.6 points per game, with second-year big man Alex Sarr right behind him at 17.2. The Wizards are 10-26 and 14th in the East, but had won five of seven games before Wednesday’s road loss at Philadelphia with McCollum and Kispert holding on. They haven’t made the playoffs since losing in the first round of the 2020-21 season.
The Wizards’ 2026 first-round pick is a top-eight pick, protected from a previous trade with the Knicks. If their own first-round pick makes the cut, they’ll send out New York’s 2026 and 2027 second-rounders.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
