4 Teams that need to trade for Hawks’ Trae Young immediately

Brooklyn Nets are missing what Hawks star brings after roster re-tool

The Nets were hit with an unsurprising curveball when Kyrie Irving, and then Kevin Durant, demanded a trade ahead of the deadline in February. Both stars had previously made such requests, though the team’s hot season was trending the right way to that point.

Durant went down with a knee injury and Irving soured on contract negotiations leaving Brooklyn to sort things out.

They came back with several intriguing pieces, most notably Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson from the Phoenix Suns in the Durant trade. What they did not address, however, was their need for a playmaking point guard with Spencer Dinwiddie better served as an off-guard and backup ball-handler.

The temptation may be there to pursue Ben Simmons, a one-time Hawks trade target.

But his shooting and health make the smarter play for the Hawks demanding all the draft capital it can – a staple of these scenarios – two players who can help right now in Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale, the latter of whom played for head coach Quin Snyder with the Utah Jazz.

They would also be getting a dynamite scoring prospect in Cam Thomas who strung together three straight 40-point outings last season.

It is harder to argue that this deal keeps the Hawks as competitive as they would be with Young than with some of the other potential deals. They could extract the most actual draft capital from the Nets – in terms of outright draft picks rather than swaps – than any of the previous suggestions.