The Atlanta Hawks and Trae Young are heading toward a crossroads, with the four-time All-Star guard heading into Year 4 of a five-year, $215.1 million contract. He is eligible for an extension worth up to $229 million this offseason, but also has a player option for 2026-27.
Those latter two items combine to present the Hawks and Young with a conundrum.
Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale put together a list of what each team would do if free agency began on May 30.
For the Hawks, Favale projected an extension for Young. However, Favale also noted he possibility that Young declines that extension, which could set the stage for even more uncertainty for the Hawks.
“The Atlanta Hawks can try offering him less than the max allowed, but regardless, their first order of business needs to be offering...something,” Favale wrote on May 30. “The calculus changes if Young turns down an extension. That is a surefire sign he wants out, and Atlanta will need to begin shopping him in earnest when he has a full year left on his deal ahead of that 2026-27 player option.”
To that end, Young has expressed a patient outlook on what the Hawks are as a team.
Trae Young bought into Hawks’ youth movement
“I understand the space that we’re in right now. There’s probably two, really, teams that people in the – or maybe three – in the East that people really can see as contending teams. And for us, I don’t think we’re there yet, and I feel like that’s okay. I feel like here in a couple years we could be, or in the next year we could be.
“Right now, this is a good spot for us to work on the right habits. Because we have talent.”
What that means for the Hawks’ plans remains unclear. There have been some questions about whether or not they are prepared to move forward with Young.
“One trusted talent evaluator went so far as to pinpoint two teams he suggests would be wise to test Atlanta’s resolve once it does hire a new president of basketball operations, asserting that Orlando and Houston would both benefit strongly from Young’s offensive gifts while also possessing ample defensive-minded personnel to insulate Young at the other end,” The Stein Line’s Marc Stein wrote on May 11.
“Although such thoughts qualify as just one exec's landscape projections … they struck us as interesting to consider.”
Working against the Hawks, prospective suitors are well aware of the situation they are in and could very well leave Atlanta to sort through it or bite the bullet and make Young available for a trade.
The Hawks experienced a similar situation with John Collins in 2021.
They paid him, but the ordeal was turbulent and ultimately ended with Collins traded to the Utah Jazz after months on the block.
The Hawks surely want to avoid that with Young, who has only maintained that he wants to remain in Atlanta for the duration of his career. Young also placed the significant caveat of being competitive in that desire, though. Until the Hawks decide if general manager Onsi Saleh or someone else is running the show, this will continue to linger.