Thoughts on the Trae Young Trade
/
Trae Young was traded to the Washington Wizards yesterday. This has been a deal in the making for about a week now, but I did not think it would end up with Young playing for the Wizards. Let’s discuss.
When I first heard about his trade request, the two teams first mentioned were the Timberwolves and Nets. These two teams made some kind of sense to me. The Timberwolves need a true, real deal point guard and that is exactly what Trae Young has been since he entered the league. I didn't know how this would work on the Timberwolves end, but that didn't make it make any less sense. The Timberwolves already have a real deal star of the team in Anthony Edwards. He is the most important player on the team and he has the keys to the car. He is their leader and most important player. I don't think Young would take to that so well. You could see some fracturing on the Hawks with Jalen Johnson emerging as an all star candidate. They also took Zach Rissache number one overall in last year's draft. And they have some other young players that they may want to build the team around. Young wasn't the player to build around anymore on the Hawks, and he would be the third or fourth option if he were to join the Timberwolves. Besides Edwards, the Wolves like to feed Rudy Gobert from time to time in the low post. Sometimes the offense goes through Julius Randle occasionally, and even a guy like Naz Reid gets to run the bench unit. Young may have given the Timberwolves a true point guard, but I feel like he would have been almost instantly unhappy at his place and role on that team.
The Nets actually made the most sense to me because they have picks and young players looking to prove themselves. And playing for the Nets would give Young a humongous market, Brooklyn, and he would be the number 1 option by a mile. I would have to imagine the Hawks would have wanted picks, which the Nets could provide, but I also think the Hawks would have wanted some of their young shooters. I would have asked for Michael Porter Jr first. He is having a breakout season and he would be a perfect replacement for Trae Young in Atlanta. If they wanted a pure scorer, they could have asked for Cam Thomas. He may not pass much, and he isn't the best defender in the NBA, but the dude is a microwave when his shot is falling. If they wanted an unproven guy they could have asked for Egor Denim. He is a rookie and he pretty much only shoots threes. But if he can hone that skill and become a lesser Kyle Korver, he could bring spacing to Atlanta. And if they wanted to go big for some reason, why not ask for Nic Claxton. He is young and a good rim runner and rebounder and he could bring more energy to a younger roster in Atlanta. But Brooklyn didn't happen either.
Then, as I was writing yesterday, I saw that Young all of the sudden wanted to go to Washington and Atlanta was willing to try and make that happen. I was confused, but hey, if that was where he wanted to play, why not go for it. Throughout the afternoon I had to imagine both sides were working on a deal. Then it was announced that a few of the Wizards players were "healthy" scratches right before their game. That was the only evidence we all needed. Pretty soon after that Young was traded to the Wizards for Corey Kispert and CJ McCollum. After the trade came out and the players were mentioned, I was unmoved. The deal seemed to be very boring and dull. The only true "star" in the trade was Trae Young, and his star is starting to fade. McCollum had his moment, but he is now your typical veteran journeyman. And Corey Kispert is no better than a bench player. He can score here and there, but he is not a name that moves the needle all that much. The Wizards got the guy that wanted to be there. And Trae Young is going to be able to do whatever he wants. They won't win much, and I wonder if a guy like Alex Sarr, who is having a solid second season, will grow frustrated playing with such a ball dominant guard. And the Wizards are not going to win all that much with the addition of Young. As for the Hawks, they have been a bit of a disappointment so far, and while they played well without Young earlier this year, I don't know if that will happen again. And bringing in Kispert and McCollum doesn't really help or hurt them all that much. They added two decent shooters, but neither is as good as Young. And they don't make defenses shift as much as Young did for them.
This trade feels odd and unfulfilling. I don't really think either team got better. Young got to go where he wanted, and the Hawks got two shooters, but I don't think either team will see any real difference in their records for the rest of the season. Maybe this is just the start of a wild trade deadline. Time will tell. But this trade isn't as juicy as it could have been.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.