The Washington Wizards are acquiring guard Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert.
According to sources, the deal will be made official pending a physical. Extension talks have already begun with the Wizards, though it remains unclear if the deal being consummated is contingent on an extension being ironed out, or whether that will happen separately from the trade itself.
Washington will now reunite Senior VP of Player Personnel Travis Schlenk with Young, after the now Wizards executive was a driving force behind the draft night deal to acquire Young back in 2018. It also gives them a longterm piece to build around which will hopefully elevate them out of the perennial rebuild mode they’ve found themselves stuck in over the past several seasons.
Young will join Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, and Tre Johnson as core pieces of the team moving forward. While his defensive limitations remain a concern come playoff time, his playmaking skills and scoring ability will go a long way towards jumpstarting the league’s 4th least efficient offence in 2025-26.
Currently averaging 113.5 points per game, Washington is being outscored by all but 6 teams across the NBA. Still, this is a team that wants to run and gun, a playing style that should mesh will with Young’s skillset. The Wizards are currently playing at a 102.15 PACE rating, which is the 7th best in the NBA, and figures to improve even more when the former All-Star is inserted into the lineup.
Meanwhile, Hawks officials had relatively little to say regarding the deal following their game vs. the Pelicans on Wednesday.
“I know you all have questions for me that right now I’m not at liberty to talk about or answer,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said following his team’s win. Because the trade had yet to be approved by the NBA league office, Hawks officials deflected questions regarding Young in their media availability following their game against New Orleans.
Atlanta will now move forward with a core of Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Onyeka Okongwu, and Zaccharie Risacher. McCollum and Kispert figure to add some depth to a top heavy Hawks rotation, and give them a veteran scoring option off the bench.
Sitting at 18-21 on the year, the Hawks occupy the 9th spot in the Eastern Conference at the moment. But given how tightly packed the 5th through 11th seeds are, plenty could change with a prolonged winning or losing streak over the next handful of games.
Rumours of a potential Anthony Davis blockbuster have begun to heat up in the aftermath of the Young trade. The former Laker turned Maverick has been linked to several teams over the past few weeks, however Atlanta’s name appears to be popping up again and again.
Sources indicate the Hawks initially offered a package centred around a Davis for Young swap, but the Mavericks balked at the idea of adding Young in any deal. Instead, Atlanta has now created additional financial flexibility by dealing Young to Washington, and could renew their pursuit of Davis in the days leading up to the NBA trade deadline.
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.