Despite the Atlanta Hawks’ disappointing end to their season, Trae Young put together a historic playmaking campaign. He broke the franchise record for total assists (880) and assists per game (11.6) in a single season, cementing himself as one of basketball’s greatest passers.
Like it seems to do every year, Young’s name has still popped up in trade rumors this offseason. While a trade involving Young seems wildly unlikely, the Sacramento Kings were linked to Atlanta’s franchise player in a recent report.
However, the Kings decided not to heavily pursue Young despite their desperate need for a point guard. The Athletic’s Sam Amick revealed that Sacramento ultimately had minimal interest in Young due to his lack of defense and overall cost.
“If you somehow missed it, the Kings traded De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs in February and have had an opening listed for the position ever since,” Amick wrote in his June 26 article. “There was a push among some power-brokers for Sacramento to go after Atlanta’s Trae Young, but league sources say the Kings didn’t have interest because of his style of play (offense-first) and cost (he’s extension-eligible this summer but is slated to earn $45.9 million next season and has a player option worth $48.9 million in 2026-27).”
This narrative that Young can’t impact the game at a high enough level due to a prioritization of offense over defense has followed the Hawks point guard throughout his career. The Kings finished the season with the NBA’s seventh-best offensive rating and a bottom-10 defensive rating, so their focus on adding defensive-minded talent does add up. Even so, Young’s ability to create easy offense for himself and others is among the best in the world.
The Hawks aren’t listening to the negative Trae Young narratives
While other teams in the league may have reservations about Young, the Hawks certainly don’t. New general manager Onsi Saleh recently shut down the trade talks and expressed the team’s continued commitment to Young.
“We’re locked in with Trae,” Saleh said. “We’re just locked into next season, ready to move forward. Be the best team that we can possibly be moving forward … I think a lot of his leadership went unnoticed to the common eye. The way that he helped develop our young guys and made them better was significant.”
Young put his underrated leadership on full display when he attended Hawks rookie Asa Newell’s introductory press conference just two days after Atlanta drafted the 19-year-old forward. Newell revealed that Young was the first player to call him after he was picked.
Saleh and the Hawks did an incredible job before and during the draft. They first traded for Kristaps Porzingis before fleecing the New Orleans Pelicans for their 2026 unprotected first-round pick and the No. 23 pick that became Newell.
Locked in with the Hawks and ready to prove more of his doubters wrong, Young should be thrilled with his team’s recent activity. Atlanta is building something special, and Ice Trae is still an invaluable piece of the puzzle.