For a while there, it was a bit of a bumpy ride for Atlanta Hawks fans when thinking about Trae Young's future with the franchise. But now that the events of the last few months have unfolded, it should be pretty obvious that the organization's best move from here would be to just extend him.
Think back to last year for a second. At the start of May in 2024, Atlanta was in a rough position. They had just missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019-20, and finished 10th in the final Eastern Conference standings, their lowest finish since Young's second professional season.
Then, slowly but surely things began to change. Winning the lottery and selecting Zaccharie Risacher was just the tip of the iceberg, but it was step number one in the Hawks getting back to relevance. Then, after a developmental year in 2024-25 where positive things happened but Atlanta still missed the playoffs, the noise over whether Trae should leave was growing louder than ever from outsiders.
Fans from seemingly every contender or fringe-contender around the league were staking their claim that their team was the best possibe landing spot for Young. And then, a seismic series of moves served to shake up the entire landscape of the league.
The Hawks should go ahead and extend Trae Young
Adding first Kristaps Porzingis, then Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard utterly transformed the outlook on this Hawks team, not just from fans but from national outlets and even haters from rival teams. Overnight almost, Atlanta went from a perpetual play-in squad to a team that's seen as a near-consensus top-four finisher in the East this upcoming season.
To nearly everyone, it's obvious now that the Hawks are going to be a real force and a threat to go very deep into the playoffs. With all that in mind, it should be a no-brainer that the team should go ahead and just offer that big extension to Trae Young.
What are we waiting on at this point? Young has made it clear that he wants to remain in Atlanta, and the team around him has improved to the point that it's undeniable he will have a chance to win a lot of games over the next couple of seasons.
So in my eyes, it's best to pull the proverbial trigger and offer the formal extension to Trae Young and his agent. This is the face of the Atlanta Hawks, and that's what he's going to remain. Might as well make it official.