Jalen Johnson’s emergence as Hawks’ top option creates Trae Young trade dilemma

There was a lot of hype surrounding the Atlanta Hawks‘ roster entering the 2025-26 NBA season after all the offseason additions they made. Along with adding Kristaps Porzingis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Luke Kennard, the Hawks were getting Jalen Johnson back from his shoulder injury.

Last season, Johnson’s year was cut short to just 36 games because of a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Before the injury, Johnson was having an All-Star-like season, averaging 18.9 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor.

Many were already considering Johnson as the early favorite for the league’s Most Improved Player award before he went down with his shoulder injury.

With Johnson emerging as a real threat alongside All-Star point guard Trae Young, the Hawks entered the new season as threats to contend at the top of the East. But the Hawks lost three of their first four games, and to make matters worse, Young went down with a sprained MCL in his right knee in the team’s fifth game.

Since then, the Hawks have won nine of their last 13 games, and Johnson has been the catalyst of their success.

The 23-year-old forward is averaging 22.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 56.2 percent from the floor and 41.5 percent from 3-point range. Only Nikola Jokic and Johnson are averaging at least 22 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists per game with 50-40 shooting splits this season.

Atlanta knew what Johnson was capable of becoming, and he has picked up right where he left off last season when he injured his shoulder. Now, with Young sidelined, Johnson is seizing the moment to prove that he can be the face of this franchise for many years to come.

Jalen Johnson cementing himself as an All-Star, face of Hawks

Throughout his young career, Johnson has never been one to put himself over others.

Johnson spent a lot of time on the bench through his first two seasons simply working on his craft, and he never said a word about the lack of playing time he was receiving or his role. The start of his career was all about paving a path forward, and we are beginning to see the years of hard work behind the scenes paying off.

“If you don’t rush nothing and you trust your process and truly embrace the grind and not just say words about it, but actually be about your actions, it’s just a matter of time. You start slowly seeing yourself progress forward and make small steps,” Johnson recently told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “And the next thing you know, your numbers get better. All that stuff takes care of itself.

“I know my game. I know the work I put in. I know it’s going to eventually be up there and people are going to start to take recognition.”

Well, the NBA as a whole is certainly taking notice of Johnson and the Hawks, as the young emerging star has cemented himself as one of the league’s best overall talents.

Looking at the Eastern Conference alone, Johnson currently ranks 15th in scoring and seventh in assists, as well as tied for seventh in rebounding. Only five players in the East have more 20-point games than him this season, as he’s tied with a handful of others in the conference with 12 such games.

Johnson is one of 15 players in the NBA this season to tally a triple-double, and his nine double-doubles in 16 games are tied for the sixth-most in the league.

With the Hawks currently above the play-in tournament in the East standings and Johnson leading the team to wins in the wake of Trae Young’s injury, it’s become very clear that he will be a first-time All-Star this season. More importantly, Johnson is becoming the face of the franchise.

Johnson has been the star of the Hawks since Young’s injury, and it’s clear that Atlanta is building their future around him, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, and Onyeka Okongwu.

These four youthful talents make up one of the better cores in the entire NBA, yet nobody is talking about the Hawks and what they’ve built. Johnson and this group are only going to continue getting better as the season progresses, which is why the Hawks are in one of the best spots out of any team in the league right now.

The Hawks have won seven of their last nine games, and they are joined by the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers as the only teams in the league that currently have eight road wins. During this stretch, Johnson was recently named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

Despite not having Young, this team has sustained success by playing through Johnson and making him their featured star. He can push the pace, score from the perimeter, punish smaller defenders in the low post, and be a primary playmaker for his teammates as a point forward.

For those reasons alone, Johnson has not only earned the right to be an All-Star this season but also to be called the face of the Hawks. Of course, this leads to major questions about what the future holds for Young in Atlanta.

What’s next for Trae Young?

When Trae Young went down with his knee injury in the Hawks’ fifth game of the season against the Brooklyn Nets, many immediately thought Atlanta would decline without their leader.

The opposite has been true, as Johnson’s emergence as the new leader of the Hawks has helped forge this team’s identity, one that revolves around defending at a high level and consistently spreading the ball around on offense. That is why the Hawks currently lead the league in assists per game (30.4).

This has never been an issue for Young, as he’s one of the best passing point guards in the league. Just last season, Young led the NBA in assists (11.6), and he’s always been the catalyst for the Hawks’ success on offense.

However, since his injury, head coach Quin Snyder has put a lot of trust in Johnson and Daniels to lead the team. So far, Snyder’s philosophy and belief in his young players have put the Hawks in a position to contend at the top of the Eastern Conference.

Young is still working his way back from his knee injury behind the scenes, and the team will re-evaluate him at the end of November. Should this evaluation go well and the star guard doesn’t suffer any setbacks over the next few days, he will likely enter the next step of his rehab and begin on-court work.

That likely puts Young’s timeline around 10-14 days before he would be re-evaluated again, so it’s realistic to believe that he will return sometime around the holidays in mid-December.

Although this is good news for the Hawks, given Young’s offensive skills and ability to take pressure off Johnson and Daniels as the main facilitators, do Snyder and the team really want to get away from what has been working?

After all, having the ball in Johnson’s hands has allowed him to evolve into a multi-purpose offensive threat and All-Star in his own right. Upon returning to the court, Young won’t be the sole facilitator of the basketball anymore, and he will need to find a way to reintegrate himself with this group without changing their new style of play.

A lot of noise was made in the offseason about Young’s future with the organization and whether they would potentially look to trade him, especially with contract negotiations going nowhere and both sides at peace with the idea of the All-Star finishing his current contract.

The Hawks did not seek to move Young at any point this offseason, nor did they feel as if Young was unhappy with how his contract negotiations were handled. Both sides understand the business side of the league, and Young remained committed to his organization throughout the preseason and entering the 2025-26 season.

Still, the idea of trading Young is simply something born outside of Atlanta. This organization values Young, and they remain committed to him being their point guard this season.

Things always change on a dime in the NBA, and this isn’t to say that the ideology surrounding Young won’t be altered before the trade deadline in February, but the franchise is excited for their lead guard to get back on the court alongside Johnson, Daniels, and others.

Looking ahead to the later stages of this season and well ahead into next summer, it’s already become clear that Young’s value to the Hawks has declined. Johnson’s emergence and youth make him the ideal player for this organization to build with for many years to come, which leads to questions about just how much the Hawks would be willing to pay Young next summer, as he owns a $48.9 million player option.

No matter how you look at it, Atlanta is in a great position. Young’s likely return to the court in a few weeks acts as a mid-season addition for this group in a way, and Johnson will continue his All-Star-level play. What this team looks like with Young back in the fold throughout January before the trade deadline will tell the tale of what Young’s future in Atlanta looks like.

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