With the Atlanta Hawks and star point guard Trae Young unable to come to a new contract extension, the team is reportedly listening to trade offers for the eight-year veteran.
Hawks could make trade offer for Trae Young
An unnamed Eastern Conference executive told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps that the Hawks are not opposed to the idea of trading Young, saying, “Atlanta is good enough to keep Trae and perform well and make the playoffs. But as [New Orleans’ Pelicans 2026 first-round] Peake and Jaylen [Johnson]Dyson [Daniels]and Zach [Risacher]they will at least pick up the phone and listen when they get the call. “
The Hawks enter the 2025-26 season as a serious Eastern Conference playoff contender.
They sent back the core of Young, Johnson, Daniels and 2024 No. 1 pick Lisa Che, while acquiring Kristaps Porzingis through a trade and signing Nickel Alexander-Walker as a free agent.
Atlanta would also be able to acquire the Pelicans’ unprotected first-round pick in the 2026 draft.
Atalanta can renew the youngster’s contract at any time
The Hawks are 4-4 on the season, including 3-1 without Young, who is expected to be out until at least early December due to a sprained medial collateral ligament.
According to Spotrac, Young has a $48.96 million player option for next season and will make $45.99 million this season. The 27-year-old wants to prove he’s worthy of a four-year, $229 million max contract extension.
In 2021, he signed a five-year rookie maximum contract extension worth $215.15 million with Atlanta.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Hawks can re-sign Young at any time. However, negotiations between the two parties have not yet made progress.
If a new deal is not reached and Young declines his option, he will become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Young led the league in assists last season
Young’s production has remained consistent throughout his NBA career.
In 76 games with the Hawks last season (all starts), Young averaged 36 minutes per game, scoring a career-high 24.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and an NBA-leading 11.6 assists and 1.2 steals.
His 200 fourth-quarter assists were the most since John Stockton in the 1996-97 season.
However, Young’s shooting efficiency is not very high. He shot a career-low 51.1 percent from the field and a disappointing effective field goal percentage (49.1 percent). His 355 turnovers also led all players.
Young also leads the league in turnovers in 2021-22 (303) and 2022-23 (300).
Had Young been selected to the All-Pro team last season, he would have been eligible to sign a five-year, $345 million supermax contract extension with the Hawks last offseason.
