The Trae Young era is officially over in Atlanta after the Atlanta Hawks traded Young to the Washington Wizards for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, and while there has been criticism from local media, national media, and Hawks fans about what the Hawks got in return for the four time All-Star, earlier today The Morning Shift explained why Trae’s trade value wasn’t as high as some think it was, and why you can’t fully grade the Hawks on this trade yet.
“I think the overall feeling I get coming away from this trade is it’s TBD, like my feelings on it are TBD because of the cap room, because of the financial flexibility, because that you’re reportedly looking to make other moves or want to make other moves this offseason, and you have the draft pick like it’s all TBD.” Mike Johnson said
The Hawks are reportedly still looking to make a trade for Dallas Mavericks’ star power forward Anthony Davis. Early reports indicate the deal for Davis would be centered around Kristaps Porziņģis and Luke Kennard and moving Young provides Atlanta with added financial flexibility to pursue a large salary over the next several months like Davis’ as a prime in-season trade target.
Also, CJ McCollum serves as a valuable plug-and-play veteran now, but holds a $30.6 million-dollar expiring contract that will be off the books at the end of the season, and will give the Atlanta even more financial flexibility, so until we see what the Hawks do before the February 5th trade deadline and after the offseason they shouldn’t be judged on what they got in return for Trae Young.