It really happened.
The Atlanta Hawks traded Trae Young, to the Washington Wizards, in a franchise-altering blockbuster deal.
The news broke on Wednesday night from ESPN's Shams Charania with these trade terms:
- Wizards get: Trae Young
- Hawks get: C.J. McCollum, Corey Kispert
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It ends up being a much less complicated deal than some predicted. The money matched, and the Hawks move off Young.
Washington gets an exciting player to sell tickets, and they may have hopes of re-signing Young when he surely opts out of his player option following this season.
The Hawks have cleared cap space, and McCollum's deal is off the books at the end of the season.
It's now a chance for Atlanta to build a new identity with Jalen Johnson as the centerpiece.
"The Hawks are poised to turn the page on a new era with the emergence of Jalen Johnson and others, bringing a much more fluid style of play around their wings and depth," Charania wrote on X. "McCollum serves as a valuable plug-and-play veteran while holding a $30.6 million expiring deal."
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Charania also implies more could be coming.
"Moving Young also provides Atlanta with added financial flexibility to pursue a large salary over the next several months – with Dallas Mavericks star Anthony Davis as a prime in-season trade target," he wrote.
It'll be interesting to see if this is addition by subtraction for the Hawks.
It'll also be fascinating to watch how this impacts the Wizards, who should probably be embracing a full-on tank while possessing a top-eight protected pick. But instead, they've added a talented player who can probably get them some additional wins the rest of the season.
It's a headline-grabbing trade because Young is involved. But will it lead either side of this trade to title contention? That seems unlikely.
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