Atlanta Hawks superstar Trae Young finally received some real recognition from the NBA fraternity after being repeatedly snubbed for various honors. He did receive the NBA community assist for the month of February but that speaks of how good Young is as a person, not how good he is on the court.
We here at Soaring Down South have believed, like most Hawks supporters, that Young has had an All-NBA type season. This was confirmed when he was named to the All-NBA third team along with Chris Paul, LeBron James, Pascal Siakam, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
The fact that Ja Morant missed so much of the season is one that needs to be discussed another time. The fact that Young made the third team is a tremendous bright spot on a very beige season. Let’s explore the impact that this is going to have on the Atlanta Hawks moving forward.
The pros and cons of Atlanta Hawks superstar Trae Young making All-NBA.
The first is both a pro and a con. The pro is the Hawks know just how much they will be paying Young for the rest of this contract. The con is that it takes another $7.0 million of their cap space per year for the rest of his deal. Young deserves this pay, it is why the clause was put in the contract. The quality of his season demanded an All-NBA selection and he should be rewarded.
This will also almost certainly mean that the Hawks will go into the tax as they have to sign six or seven players with $151.2 million in salary already, including Danilo Gallinari’s full deal. The Hawks will now have to decide if they guarantee that deal, if not then they are $136 million in committed salary.
The other pro is that it almost guarantees that the Hawks are going to look to actively improve their roster. With $7.0 million less to play with they need to get creative with their trades to get the second star they so desperately need.
One benefit to this end is that stars see that the NBA media are watching the Hawks and they recognize good play. This is important as a second star is going to want to be seen, competing at the highest level to potentially win a championship but also to further their own careers.