AFTER eight years, the Trae Young era in Atlanta has officially come to an end.
The Hawks traded away their 27-year-old superstar guard to the Washington Wizards for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert on Wednesday night (Thursday afternoon Philippine time), putting an end to a once-promising partnership with their top aquisition from the 2018 NBA draft.
The trade marks months of rumors surrounding Young's future with in Georgia, with the Hawks seemingly interested in building around young, do-it-all forward Jalen Johnson together with last year's Most Improved Player in two-way guard Dyson Daniels.
Young will leave the Hawks a four-time NBA All-Star, a former third-team All-NBA member and an assist champion back in 2025. In 493 games with the Hawks, Young posted averages of 25.2 points on 35.1 percent shooting from downtown to go along 9.8 assists.
But he only played 10 games this season after dealing with a quad and MCL injuries, averaging 19.3 points and nearly nine assists in those games.
Anthony Davis next for Atlanta?
Young getting moved to Washington might be a surprise to many, but for months the US capital seem to be a favored destination for the spitfire guard.
The Wizards get a 27-year-old offensive juggernaut in Young, a player still young enough to grow with their young French core of Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly as the Wizards look to get back into relevance after years of languishing in the bottom.
But for Atlanta? This one's for pure flexibility.
Starting off the year over the cap space, Atlanta will now have all the flexibility in the world as they part ways with Young's US$ 49 million contract, with McCollum's 30 million deal also set to expire next season.
This could open their options to trading for Anthony Davis - a player that's long been linked with the Hawks, though his history of injury, and career timeline could be an issue with what Atlanta's trying to build through Johnson, Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
But even if they don't pursue Davis, they'd still have at leas 30 million in cap space next year. By also going under the salary cap, Atlanta now has the luxury of signing a player through the mid-level exception of at least 10 million - getting them another solid rotational player should they decide to not get another high-contract star.
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