Going into the offseason, many people expected the Atlanta Hawks to make big moves. One of those moves was breaking up the backcourt duo of Dejounte Murray and Trae Young. Trae Young’s name floated around in trade rumors this offseason. However, they decided to move Dejounte Murray, trading him to the New Orleans Pelicans. Instead of going into a full-on rebuild like people expected them to they decided to just retool their roster.
With how the NBA offseason has gone so far, all the big moves have mostly been done already. If Young were to get traded it would happen either at the beginning of this season, at the trade deadline, or next offseason. Now, the question becomes will the Hawks regret their decision to not trade Trae Young this offseason? We are going to look at why they might regret it, and why they have decided not to.
Why The Hawks Might Regret Not Trading Away Trae Young This Offseason
Trae Young Decrease in Trade Value
If the Hawks do end up eventually trading away Young. The longer they wait to make that decision, his trade value will continue to decrease. We saw that happen with players such as Alex Caruso, Pascal Siakam, and OG Anunoby. These teams waited too long to trade those players and their value decreased. Trae Young still has two years left on his deal with the third year being a player option. Teams are more likely to give up knowing they won’t have to extend that player right away. To go along with that, the player could also leave the team that traded for him making it just a rental for that team.
This offseason could have been the highest point for Young’s trade value. If the Hawks have another disappointing year and find themselves back in this situation next offseason. There is a chance they won’t get the same in return if they had traded away Young this offseason. In addition to him losing more years of his contract, his play or a potential injury will also decrease his value.
The Atlanta Hawks Heading for NBA Purgatory
The Atlanta Hawks made a surprise leap in the 2020-2021 season making it to the Eastern Conference Finals. In which they eventually lost to the Milwaukee Bucks. They were heading to be the next up-and-coming young team in the East. However, since then they have only made it to the playoffs twice losing in the first round both times. Last year they didn’t even make it to the playoffs losing in the Play-In game. Now, since they have decided to not trade Young and continue to try to win with him. They could be heading toward NBA purgatory which no team wants to be in.
NBA Purgatory is when your team is not good enough to compete for a championship, and not bad enough to get a top draft choice. This is seeming more and more of what the Hawks are becoming. Besides the addition of Dyson Daniels from the Murray trade, and drafting Zaccharie Risacher with the number one overall pick. The Hawks haven’t done anything else to improve this roster. Because of that, they could be the same team they were last year a Play-In team or a first-round exit team.
Why the Hawks Won’t Trade Trae Young
Now that we have gone over reasons why the Hawks may regret not trading away Trae Young. It is time to look at why they have chosen to keep him. The first one is being he is still very young. Trae Young is 25 years old and will be turning 26 next season. He is still young enough to try and still build a championship team around him. Which they feel are only a couple of pieces away from truly contending. Another reason is the Hawks are not in control of their first-round picks till 2028. Because of that, there is no reason to want to start a rebuild to maximize your draft pick. In addition, if the Hawks wanted to trade Trae Young they would have to get a significant draft pick package in return for it to make sense.
Finally, they are slowly starting to figure out the pieces you need around a guy like Young. Trae Young is only six-foot-one which hurts him on the defensive end. He is not a great defender and to help with that the Hawks needed to add more size and defense around him. They are hoping the additions of Dyson Daniels and Zaccharie Risacher will help negate that. If the Hawks can keep adding size and defense around him as well as continue to develop their young guys. They could very well be back to contending in two to three years in which Young will still only be 28 or 29.
The Last Word
Only time will tell if they will regret not trading Trae Young this offseason. Regardless, of what decision they ultimately make they must commit to one or the other. Trying to build a contender around Young or finding a trade partner for him. It just doesn’t seem like they have fully committed to one side or the other. Because the longer they wait on what ultimately to do, the worse they are going to be in the future and farther away from contending.
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