Trae Young trade grades for Wizards and Hawks after deal for All-Star point guard

Trae Young has been the Atlanta Hawks’ franchise player since they acquired him in a draft day trade for Luka Doncic in 2018. The relationship between both sides has slowly been souring since they failed to reach a contract extension last summer, and now the long-rumored divorce has finally come to fruition.

The Hawks traded Young to the Washington Wizards for C.J. McCollum and Corey Kispert on Wednesday night, according to ESPN insider Shams Charania. That’s it. That’s the trade. The point guard is in his prime at age-27 with four All-Star nods to his name, but his huge contract and lingering extension helped depress the market to the point that he was traded for only an expiring salary and a bench shooter. It’s a shocking fall from grace.

There’s already rumors that the Hawks could be looking at trading for Anthony Davis after this deal. Let’s grade this deal for both sides.

Wizards grade for Trae Young trade

The Wizards interest in Young makes a lot of sense. For one, Travis Schlenk, the former Atlanta GM who brought Young to the Hawks, is now working in Washington’s front office. Beyond that, it makes sense for Washington to bring in a star shot-creator after drafting so many play-finishers during the start of their rebuild.

Young can still be one of the NBA’s best engines. Even in a down year this season, he still ranks in the 95th percentile of offensive EPM. He’s one of the league’s elite passers with a massive 45.4 percent assist rate after leading the NBA in that category the last two seasons. He’s never been the most efficient scorer in part because he’s always only been average as a three-point shooter, but his shooting volume (10 three-point attempts per 100 possessions) combined with his driving and playmaking puts a lot of pressure on opposing defenses.

Washington has a lot of young players he can help set up. Alex Sarr, the No. 2 overall pick in 2024, is taking a big leap this season in his second season and looks like one of the better young two-way bigs in the league. Young should be able to find Sarr for a lot of easy buckets, and having such a mobile big will help insulate Young defensively. Rookie No. 5 overall pick Tre Johnson is a knockdown off-ball shooter, and Young will set him up for lots of threes, too. Kyshawn George and Bilal Coulibaly are also valued parts of Washington’s young core as long forwards who should be a good fit around Young.

There are of course several major issues with Young. He’s one of the smallest players in the NBA, one of its worst defenders, and he doesn’t do much off the ball offensively. He ranks in the fifth percentile of defensive EPM this season, and easily gets taken out of plays thanks to his lack of length and strength. He’s never been a high effort defender, either, so much so that playing Young almost immediately compromises a team on that end. He’s also an extremely on-ball player who doesn’t have much utility without the rock. Young’s teams tend to take on his personality because he always has the ball.

Still, I like this for the Wizards. You can’t tank forever, and the 2027 draft doesn’t look good enough to tank for anyway. This shouldn’t ruin the Wizards’ 2026 tank, though it’s worth noting their first-round pick is top-8 protected, otherwise it goes to the Knicks. Maybe making a win-now trade will be the thing that gets the Wizards some more lottery.

Young is a legit star in his prime. I’m wondering if the lack of interest on the trade market means he won’t be signing anything close to a max extension with Washington. Either way, this is a big talent addition for the Wizards while giving up absolutely nothing.

Grade: A-

Hawks grade for Trae Young trade

There isn’t much to say about the Wizards’ return. McCollum is an expiring contract, and Kispert is a good three-point shooter who doesn’t do a whole lot else.

This is about the Hawks deciding they wanted to be out of the Trae Young business with his $49 million player option hanging over the team for nexxt year. The Hawks were better without Young this season. As he missed 29 games with a knee injury, the Hawks have posted a -0.3 net-rating with him off the floor, and a -7.8 net-rating with him on the floor. With Jalen Johnson developing into an All-Star in his own right and the unprotected Pelicans pick from the Derik Queen trade giving them a shot at adding a high-upside talent in the 2026 draft, the Hawks simply decided to dump Young just to get him off the team and off their salary cap books.

I get not wanting to pay Young $50 million or even $40 million per season. This just doesn’t feel like a great asset play to me, especially because the Hawks’ halfcourt offense lacks any kind of juice. The Hawks sold on Young at the absolute low point of his value. It seems like this move will help open up room for an Anthony Davis deal, which, sure, fine. The Hawks just need to cross their fingers for some lottery luck with that Pels pick, because replacing Young with Darryn Peterson sounds a lot better than any other option.

Grade: B-