When Luka Doncic shook Adam Silver's hand on stage when he was chosen in the NBA Draft, he did it while wearing an Atlanta Hawks hat.
Of course, that was short-lived. The Hawks had worked a deal that sent Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks and had the Hawks ending up with Trae Young.
And now Young has turned into CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert.
The Hawks traded Young away on Wednesday night, sending him to the Washington Wizards for that duo.
The Hawks went from Luka Doncic to Trae Young to CJ McCollum 😭 pic.twitter.com/RYNCtyWWzA
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) January 8, 2026
MORE: Why the Hawks traded Trae Young to the Wizards
It's been about 11 months since Doncic himself was traded.
It's pretty crazy that two such productive players were both dealt away from the teams that drafted them, but that's where we find ourselves.
Trae Young scored or assisted on 48.1 PPG in his career, second-most in NBA history behind Luka Doncic 📈
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) January 8, 2026
Both were traded almost a year apart. Pic.twitter.com/K129EOvI0o
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Doncic, of course, had just led the Mavs to the Finals. Young hadn't impacted actual winning as much in his time with the Hawks.
And well, they'll always be linked. And they've both been traded. Quite the connection between the two, and now the Hawks have neither.
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