It took a while, but the NBA trade season is officially here now that the Trae Young deal came together rather quickly. As usual, this post will be constantly updated to serve as a one-stop shop for every trade that happens up until the deadline.
Like last year's edition, the confirmed salaries come from Keith Smith's work at Spotrac, previously traded draft pick details come from RealGM, and I always make sure to list which reporter was first on the news. The latest deals will be added at the top of the post so that you don't have to keep scrolling to the bottom for updates, and salaries are color-coded based on whether they're player options, team options, or non-guaranteed.
Trae salary dumped to Washington (Stein/Shams 1/7)
Wizards receive:
Hawks receive:
Marc Stein was all over this being the landing spot these last few days and even had the likely package before Shams Charania reported the deal was done. It's an underwhelming return for Atlanta's former face of the franchise but a fair move on both sides, even if each thought that they deserved to receive draft compensation.
Despite some gaudy stats as a dangerous offensive engine, Young just didn't seem to have a ton of value around the league due to his heavily ball dominant style of play, being arguably the worst defensive player in the league, and his contract situation. Add in the fact that multiple injuries have limited him to just 10 games this season, with the Hawks just 2-8 in them, and this is the resulting trade package.
With today's win, they are now 16-11 without him, and offseason addition Nickeil Alexander-Walker's career-year (20.5 points and 3.3 assists in 32.9 minutes) helps fill the gaps. Jalen Johnson has fully entrenched himself as the new franchise cornerstone, and the combined playmaking (on both ends) of him, Alexander-Walker, and Dyson Daniels makes Atlanta a more versatile team. The addition of McCollum can help provide more offense as a pure guard, at least in the short-term and likely off the bench, and Kispert adds more depth on the wing as a very capable shooter on a solid contract.
The finances are key here since the Hawks reportedly didn't offer Young an extension last offseason and prefer to have financial flexibility rather than seeing him potentially pick up that nearly $49 million player option. We'll see what other moves they end up making and how high of a draft pick they get from the Pelicans to affect the rookie scale contract, but as of now the expiring contracts of McCollum, Kristaps Porzingis, and Luke Kennard set them up to have around $30 million in cap space this summer after this deal, per Yossi Gozlan. He and Sam Quinn have talked about this kind of trade on their Third Apron podcast along with the idea of having a guard like Coby White as a potential target to serve as a playmaker and scorer who can operate off the ball more than Young in basically the role that McCollum will fill for now. There's also been plenty of reporting about Atlanta's pursuit of Anthony Davis, and if Zaccharie Risacher does end up in that kind of deal, perhaps Kispert could help backfill those minutes a bit.
Washington was set to have over $80 million in room, so they're basically getting a head start on using it at the cost of Kispert, who wasn't quite in their future plans as a draft pick of the former regime who is about to turn 27 in March. Young just turned 27 himself this past September, so it's not like they're really speeding up their team's timeline by getting a lot older here. This was his preferred destination according to Shams earlier today, and you have to wonder if that's code for "this is where he knows he can get paid." It would not be a surprise if that player option is replaced in the near future with a 3 year extension with a little bit of a lower average salary.
Although I've never been as high on Young as others, I think this is a fascinating buy-low opportunity. On the one hand, it would be nice to continue to allow the intriguing Wizards prospects to get more reps with the ball in their hands and spread their wings. On the other, they need an organizer to see what the kids can do with better looks in a more functional environment. Young can easily serve as a floor-raiser for what's currently the #27 offense in the league. As long as a new contract isn't outlandish, this could be a worthwhile way for them to use their cap space.
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