The Atlanta Hawks are “very open” to trading All-Star point guard Trae Young this season, sources told Ahn Fire Digital.
Young’s current trade market is “minimal,” but that could change if the Oklahoma product makes it known that he will decline his player option for next season and re-sign at a cheaper number, sources said.
Young is making $45.9 million this season. The 27-year-old can become an unrestricted free agent this offseason by declining his player option worth $48.9 million for next season.
“I’m not trading for Trae at that number,” an NBA executive told Ahn Fire Digital. “I would trade for him in a heartbeat if there is some backchannel talk with his camp that he’s willing to decline his player option and re-sign with us on a much lower number.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not paying someone close to $50 million who scores 20 but gives up 30 every night.”
The Hawks have 17 wins on the season. They are only 2-8 when Young plays.
A four-time All-Star, Young is averaging 19.3 points and 8.9 assists per game this season while shooting 41.5 percent from the field, 30.5 percent from beyond the arc and 86.3 percent from the free-throw line, which are solid numbers.
However, opponents’ offensive rating increases by 15.9 points when Young is on the court for Atlanta.
“The Hawks are Jalen Johnson’s team now,” the NBA exec said. “You wanna know why? Because he’s not a lazy defender and inefficient scorer like Trae is. I can’t even think of one team Trae would make better right now if he got traded.
“He’s just too small. Teams put him in pick-and-roll actions and just score at will.”
Young guided the Hawks to the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals, a series the Milwaukee Bucks won.
Since then, Atlanta hasn’t won a playoff series.
The Hawks are only 221-272 when Young plays in the regular season. As one NBA scout told Ahn Fire Digital, “When you look up the definition of an empty stats player, Trae’s picture and name show up.”
