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The Atlanta Hawks’ season started well but has taken a turn for the worse. Now, the Georgia-based franchise is considering parting ways with Trae Young and/or Zaccharie Risacher, as results have been lacking for several years.
The current era of the Atlanta Hawks began in 2018, with the draft of Trae Young, who was traded by the Mavericks for Luka Doncic (but that’s another story). The point guard quickly established himself as one of the most talented players of his generation and was expected to turn his team into a contender.
Three years later, the Hawks reached the conference finals, knocking out the Philadelphia 76ers led by Joel Embiid before falling with honor to the Bucks and a dominant Giannis Antetokounmpo. It seemed like the good times were back for the Georgia franchise. Except…except that four years later, Atlanta have not won a single playoff series, have suffered back-to-back play-in eliminations, and despite a talented and deep roster, remain stuck in the middle of the pack in their conference. Apparently, the franchise has had enough and seem ready to make major changes. According to the well-known Marc Stein, for the first time, the franchise is open to trading Trae Young. The relationship between the point guard and the front office has reportedly been rocky for several months. At the end of the season, “Ice Trae” will have to choose between picking up a $49 million player option or declining it and becoming a free agent. With the salary cap rising, he could easily land a massive contract. The real issue lies in the reasons for this potential trade. First, the numbers: since returning from injury, Trae Young has played five games, and the Hawks have lost all five. Worse, they’ve given up at least 125 points in each loss, including a staggering 152 against the Bulls.
So, the blame falls squarely on him, as this losing streak turned the Hawks’ record from positive to negative, and Atlanta now sit 10th in the East. Even more telling, the defensive rating says it all: 115.9 without Trae Young, 122.1 with him on the court! And that is despite having Dyson Daniels alongside him, last season’s Defensive Player Of the Year finalist and by far the NBA’s top ball thief (over 3 steals per game last year).
Still, the defensive shortcomings, to put it mildly, of the all-star point guard have been well known for a long time. They were already a talking point at the time of his draft, with real doubts he would ever improve in that area. And that is exactly how it is played out. Complaining about it now seems a bit late. On top of that, he’s only played ten games this season and is posting his worst stats since his rookie year. Which means this is probably the worst possible time to trade him.
