After seven and a half seasons in Atlanta, Trae Young has bid farewell to the only city he has known home in his NBA career.
Rumors had been accumulating for a while, but now a deal has finally been consummated
between the Hawks and Wizards per Shams Charania of ESPN:
Young, a four-time All-Star with the Hawks, was the runner up in Rookie of the Year voting after a massive draft night trade brought him to Atlanta.
He’s most fondly remembered for leading the Hawks past the four-seed New York Knicks and the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in a raucous postseason run to the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals. With that glory came a maximum extension off his rookie deal to cement himself as the face of the franchise. The next season, he was named to the All-NBA Third Team in 2022.
It’s easy to forget just how gaudy his counting stats are. In his NBA career, he has averaged 25.2 points and 9.8 assists per game. His 9.8 assist per game average is currently third in NBA history behind only Magic Johnson and John Stockton.
Young is the Hawks franchise leader in three-pointers (1,295), assists (4,837), and assists per game (9.8) among other major benchmarks.
CJ McCollum is the main piece in return: a veteran scoring guard who can help the team right away. He will be a free agent at the end of the season. Corey Kispert is the one longer term player — a veteran wing who can really shoot. He has two more years left on his mid-sized deal before a team option in 2028-29.
This is clearly an earthshattering moment in the franchise’s history, and much will soon be unpacked about just how we got here. But I speak for all Hawks fans when I say, ‘thanks for the memories, Trae Young.’
