Washington Wizards guard Trae Young is expected to decline his $48.9 million player option for the 2026-27 season, Marc Spears reported Wednesday.
The four-time All-Star guard will now become an unrestricted
free agent on Monday. Spears reported that Young loves the team in D.C. and that Washington remains the “front runner,” but Young will now test the open market.
Young, 27, was acquired by Washington in a January trade that sent CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert to the Atlanta Hawks. The nine-year veteran averaged 15.2 points and 6.2 assists while shooting 59.5% from the field across five appearances with the Wizards last season.
Young missed 67 games due to several injuries, most notably a quad contusion and an MCL sprain that forced him to miss nearly two months following the trade. Back irritation and another quad contusion caused Young to miss the team’s final 15 contests.
Michael Winger revealed on the Ryen Russillo Show that Washington’s front office ranked Young as the top 2026 free agent. Rather than wait for Young to decline his player option and test free agency, the Wizards used their abundance of cap space to acquire him via trade.
“We had two avenues to add proven talent: draft and free agency. You look at the free agent prospects in the 2026 offseason, and we had a ton of cap space. At the time, we were scheduled to have $85 million in room,” Winger said. “It was our opinion that Trae Young was the best free agent on the board … We got into friendly, professional conversations with the Hawks that escalated quickly, and we ended up trading for Trae Young.”
Wizards general manager Will Dawkins applauded Young’s court vision and said the organization acquired him to serve as the team’s floor general.
“You just see the playmaking, the scoring, the presence that he has for naturally moving and sharing the ball,” Dawkins said in March.
Dawkins praised Young’s desire to be in Washington — a feeling Young shared on a recent appearance on “The Pivot” podcast.
“I wanted to go [to Washington],” Young said. “It’s not like [Atlanta] just shipped me to Washington. Because that wasn’t the case.”
If he re-signs, Young projects as Washington’s starting point guard alongside Anthony Davis and Alex Sarr. That leaves openings in the team’s starting unit for two of the following players: Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, Tre Johnson and whoever Washington selects with the No. 1 pick.
