One NBA analyst believes the Atlanta Hawks "waited too long" to trade Trae Young.
January 9, 2026. That's the day the Atlanta Hawks traded Trae Young to the Washington Wizards for Corey Kispert and CJ McCollum.
Atlanta also received a trade exception in the blockbuster deal.
Young and the Hawks worked together on the Wizards trade last season, but NBA analyst Dan Favale of Bleacher Report believes Atlanta "waited too long" to trade Young.
"Atlanta wound up waiting so long that it moved Young at the absolute nadir of his value...and while he was injured," Favale wrote. "The return it received—CJ McCollum's expiring deal and Corey Kispert—amounted to little more than a salary dump. Whatever your prior thoughts on Young, the Hawks surely could have gotten more for him had they acted during the 2025 offseason, if not even sooner."
Young made four All-Star teams and one All-NBA team with the Hawks. He averaged 25.2 points and 9.8 assists per game in the regular season and 26.4 points and 9.0 assists per game in the playoffs with Atlanta.
The Hawks should have traded Young after they sent Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans in the summer of 2024. That was the perfect time to rebuild and get a strong return for Young, who averaged 25.7 points and 10.8 assists per game during the 2023-24 season.
Instead, Atlanta traded Young when his value in the NBA was low. Only time will tell if that comes back to bite them.
The Hawks have had a busy offseason. They signed McCollum to an extension, re-signed Jock Landale, acquired Devin Carter from the Sacramento Kings, Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort from the Oklahoma City Thunder and Ryan Nembhard from the Dallas Mavericks, declined Jonathan Kuminga's team option and drafted Kingston Flemings, Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar in the 2026 draft.
Atlanta's core moving forward is Dort, Wiggins, McCollum, Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Onyeka Okongwu. On paper, that looks really good.
"I don’t compare ourselves to others," McCollum told HoopsHype about the Hawks' future. "Right now, it’s about focusing on getting better individually and collectively. We can’t control how other teams look. You can control your approach to the game. Teams will get better and evolve.
"For us, it’s about focusing on improving our intangibles, understanding our schemes, and what Quin wants from us. Then, building on the momentum and experience that we had playing in the playoffs in a big environment on the road and in our home games. We played against a team that won the NBA Finals. All those things help you as you go into a new season."
Johnson is the new franchise player in Atlanta in the post-Young era. It will be fascinating to see if the Hawks win a championship with Johnson leading the way. The swingman had a terrific 2025-26 season. He averaged 22.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game and recorded 49 double-doubles and 13 triple-doubles in 72 games.
