Trae Young trade grade for Wizards after deal with Hawks lands new star

There’s no telling how long star point guard Trae Young will play basketball in the nation’s capital, but he’s the Washington Wizards’ first “box-office” hooper since John Wall and Bradley Beal. That’s exciting for a city that hasn’t seen its NBA team reach the conference finals since 1979, when the squad was named the “Washington Bullets.”

It’s been a long fight for Wizards fans. The closest the organization has gotten to assembling a championship contender after losing the 1979 NBA Finals to the Seattle SuperSonics (now Oklahoma City Thunder) was the aforementioned Wall and Beal era, which peaked in the 2016-17 campaign. Washington reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals that season, but fell to the Boston Celtics 115-105. The team hasn’t won a playoff series since then, and it won’t happen in 2026.

Getting Young, at least temporarily, gives Wizards fans something to cheer for. The four-time All-Star is in his prime at 27 years old and averages 25.2 points with 9.8 assists over his career. He brings cache and marketability to a franchise that has lacked them since the 2020-21 campaign, when Beal and former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook led Washington to the playoffs, where it lost in the first round to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Wizards then traded Westbrook, who they got from the Houston Rockets for Wall in December 2020, to the Los Angeles Lakers in August 2021. They’ve only had losing campaigns ever since.

In fact, Washington hasn’t had a winning record since the 2017-18 season, but there’s reason to believe that will change next year. If Young exercises his $49 million player option, he’ll organize an offense involving whoever the Wizards get with their top-eight protected lottery pick this summer as well as rising talents Alex Sarr, Tre Johnson, Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, and Bub Carrington, who have all made strides this season. That’s if the front office doesn’t trade any of those players before next season, of course.

Sarr currently leads the NBA with 2.3 blocks per game, while Johnson shot 44.2 percent from deep on 5.2 average attempts in December. Additionally, George is averaging 15 points on 46.7 percent shooting (40.8 percent 3-point) with 5.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists, one steal, and 0.9 blocks, and Coulibaly has five games with 10-plus points, five-plus rebounds, and three-plus steals this season. The latter player regularly holds his own against the best opposing player defensively, exemplified by his effort against Orlando Magic star Paolo Banchero in Tuesday’s 120-112 win.

That’s not to mention Carrington, who’s shooting 43.1 percent from downtown on 4.5 average attempts with 4.3 assists against 2.1 turnovers. In short, the Wizards are developing promising players, but none of these “Wiz Kids” are likely to ever be the best players on a championship team. What they do provide is an ideal supporting cast for whoever the franchise cornerstone ends up being.

In an ideal world, Washington will finally luck out in the draft lottery and land Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, Duke’s Cam Boozer, or BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, all prospects capable of fitting that bill. But if it misses out on one of those young phenoms, it’ll have to get more high-end veteran talent via trade or free agency.

Acquiring Young gives the Wizards a headstart. The organization can’t fully unleash the former All-NBA honoree until next season, as it must finish in the bottom four slots of the NBA standings this year to guarantee that its lottery pick will fall within the top eight selections, which would prevent it from going to the New York Knicks. This arrangement was born out of a series of previous trades, including the Wall-Westbrook deal. Washington owns the league’s fourth-worst record (10-26) ahead of Thursday night’s slate with 46 games remaining, and playing him regularly would risk the team winning too much to stay in the bottom four.

However, getting Young in the building now gives him the chance to get acclimated before the Wizards are ready to win next season, and it gives the team clarity before the offseason. It will now have a star regardless of its lottery luck so long as the former Oklahoma Sooner picks up his option, and he’ll make Washington a more attractive destination for another veteran star to consider joining too, especially if he re-signs with the team.

Plus, Young could use rest anyway, as he’s only played 10 games this season due to his current quadriceps and previous MCL ailments. The Wizards will “cautiously proceed” with the 2018 No. 5 overall pick for that reason, per HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.

The benefits of acquiring Young are clear for the Wizards, but they still could’ve gotten more value out of the transaction.

Wizards trade grade: B

On Wednesday night, the news broke that Washington traded veterans CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert to the Atlanta Hawks for Young, via ESPN’s Shams Charania. The Wizards settled for not receiving any draft compensation after originally trying to get the Hawks to attach it to Young in the deal, per ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel.

“While the Wizards had hoped to receive 2nd-round picks from the Hawks in this trade, Atlanta wanted a 1st-round pick, sources told
ClutchPoints,” he reported. “Washington didn’t initially want to trade Corey Kispert, but his involvement evened the deal from both teams’ perspectives.”

On one hand, Washington did well to not give up any draft capital or core young players. However, it also should have received at least one pick from Atlanta given its leverage. The Wizards had the most cap space to absorb Young’s $46 million salary this season and his $49 million player option next season, and they were his only serious suitors. Additionally, the Hawks wanted to shed the former NBA assist leader’s contract as soon as possible to clear their books as they build around emerging star Jalen Johnson, while Washington had no reason to rush from a basketball perspective.

Given that the trade deadline isn’t until Feb. 5, the latter organization could’ve held out until Atlanta paid it in draft capital to take on Young’s contract, similar to last year’s Marcus Smart trade. Instead, it rushed the process and made an unnecessary sacrifice to acquire the shifty guard sooner.

This shows that Washington cared more about getting Young than any draft assets in this deal, which makes sense given that the franchise was sorely in need of a star. Team president Michael Winger and general manager Will Dawkins have orchestrated a disciplined rebuild since taking over in 2023, one that’s centered around losing games in efforts of winning the draft lottery while simultaneously developing young talent and acquiring assets by absorbing other teams’ unwanted contracts.

It started with selecting Coulibaly No. 7 overall that year before getting Sarr No. 2 in 2024 and Johnson No. 6 in 2025. All three players are now key pieces of the team, but it missed out on generational superstar Victor Wembanyama by not winning the 2023 lottery as well as young stars Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper by not getting either of the top two picks in 2025.

There’s no guarantee that the Wizards will get Boozer, Dybantsa, or Peterson this summer, either, so they bought themselves insurance. Young is a household name that sells tickets, brings national attention, and will generate enthusiasm among a tortured fanbase. That should please team owner Ted Leonsis, who has patiently waited for Dawkins and Winger to build the team from the ground up after avoiding a full reset under previous general manager Tommy Sheppard. Sheppard held the position from April 2019 to April 2023.

Basketball-wise, this trade will be more impressive if Washington waits until Young helps the young core thrive over an extended period before re-signing him. If he doesn’t mesh with the “Wiz Kids” next season and it commits to him long-term anyway, that would mean that the organization values his commercial appeal more than his contributions to winning. But there’s no reason to think this administration would behave that way given its track record.

The Wizards likely won’t entertain extension talks with Young for now, via Charania.

“The Wizards are not expected to have immediate extension talks with Young, and both sides will evaluate his health once he arrives in Washington, sources said,” he wrote.

If the Young experiment doesn’t pan out due to his subpar defense, injuries, or anything else, then Washington didn’t give up anything significant for him anyway. McCollum is on an expiring contract and was acquired from the New Orleans Pelicans for Jordan Poole and Saddiq Bey last summer to clear the books for a move like this one, and Kispert is a 26-year-old bench option who didn’t fit the Wizards’ rebuilding timeline. Moving off Young next season, or even letting him walk in 2027 free agency, would not be the end of the world so long as he doesn’t jeopardize the 2026 lottery pick.

Either way, the front office deserves flowers for turning Beal’s max contract into Young. Sheppard and company made Beal the 10th player in NBA history to receive a full no-trade clause when it handed him the five-year, $251 million deal in July 2022. The 2012 No. 3 overall pick averaged as many as 31.3 points per game for Washington in his prime, but his legacy pales in comparison to the other players who have received that rare contractual privilege, via Boardroom:

• LeBron James
• Carmelo Anthony
• Dwayne Wade
• Kevin Garnett
• Tim Duncan
• Dirk Nowitzki
• Kobe Bryant
• John Stockton
• David Robinson

All nine of those players are Hall of Famers except James, who is a future Hall of Famer. That’s an honor that Beal is unlikely to ever receive, but the Wizards’ previous administration still gave him the same privilege that they got. This is the level of disaster that Dawkins and Winger inherited in the spring of 2023, but they still flipped him to the Phoenix Suns for a package including Chris Paul, six second-round picks, and four first-round pick swaps that offseason. They then sent Paul to the Golden State Warriors for a package including Poole and a 2030 first-round pick shortly after that before trading Poole for McCollum and McCollum for Young.

Young is the only star in his prime out of any of those players, and Washington didn’t give up any picks over that entire chain of moves. While it should’ve received picks in both the Pelicans and Hawks trades, it’s hard to argue with that overall progression.

This foresight shows that the organization is in good hands, a feeling that may still feel foreign to most Wizards fans. Whether or not Young sticks around long-term, he has the talent to help lift Washington into relevancy next season, and no fanbase deserves to see that more.

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