National NBA writers have recently weighed in.
With the trade of Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans, the focus has turned back to Trae Young’s long term future with the Atlanta Hawks. After being drafted in 2018, Young has been the de facto face of the franchise, overseeing some high highs as well as some unfortunate lows over the past six years.
But with the Hawks looking to pivot towards a different future, the question is whether Young is in their plans — and vice versa from Young’s point of view.
Naturally, national insiders and reporters have some intel as to what the scuttlebutt is around the league. First, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst speaks to the rumors on the Hoop Collective podcast:
I’m not sure that Trae Young’s value is as high as [the Atlanta Hawks would] like it to be. So this is a real pivotal year as you say for Trae Young. Number one: after this season he can extend his contract, and in the current environment — first off — we know that he’s on the ‘fun max’. We know the next contract is ‘stress max’ time.
It’s been dubbed the ‘stress max’ because it affects both sides. Sometimes, it’s the stress on the team whether they can get the player to sign, and sometimes it’s stress on the player about whether he can get that second max.
In this environment – where under the new rules, you’ve got to watch the dollars being spent, especially when you get to the 30 percent part of the max. Trae [Young] is going to have to have a big year, even if it’s to stay in Atlanta and sign a max deal.
Later on, in the same episode of the same podcast, Tim McMahon also of ESPN echoed that sentiment, saying:
There wasn’t a real market for Trae Young, and he doesn’t necessarily need to reestablish a trade market for himself. But as as extension talks are coming I think he does have to reestablish his value. But honestly, it’s a bad situation in Atlanta because the Hawks are in a position where they should be entering what would hopefully be kind of a rapid rebuild, but they can’t because the Spurs have all their draft capital.
So, they’re in this awkward situation where you know they should be unloading more pieces, but it’s just not something that you can’t bottom out to make the Spurs better.
The simple fact of the matter is if there was a real market for Trae Young he’d be somewhere else right now. It’s not like they got some kind of wild blockbuster return for Dejounte Murray.
Still, as it stands, Young is set to lead the Hawks into battle in 2024-25. The three-time All-Star can quiet the noise surrounding his situation by leading the Hawks to an above-expectations season in a suddenly competitive Eastern Conference.