Trae Young is on his way out of Atlanta. Which NBA teams are in the best position to trade for the Hawks point guard?
The Trae Young era is nearing its end in Atlanta.
On Monday, it was reported the Atlanta Hawks are actively working with the four-time NBA All-Star on finding him a new home.
Young is an immensely talented offensive player, but his time with the Hawks has proven he requires a particular roster around him to be successful.
So which team would make the most sense for Young? Here are the five best spots for Young to land.
Note: For this exercise, we are focusing strictly on teams that would make a great fit for Young’s set of skills – not which teams would be able to offer the Hawks the best package for him.
5. Toronto Raptors
The teams that need Young are the ones that struggles offensively, particularly in the halfcourt (Young is 12th in the entire league in offensive DRIP). And for them to be able to withstand Young’s limitations (11th-worst defensive DRIP), they need to have a strong defensive infrastructure.
The Toronto Raptors firmly check both of these boxes. On the season, they are 23rd in O-TRACR and fourth in D-TRACR. They have great wings in RJ Barrett, Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes, and competent center play in Jakob Poeltl and Sandro Mamukelashvili. However, they haven’t been getting much out of their $30 million point guard, Immanuel Quickley, so swapping him for Young would be a significant upgrade.
The reason they are only fifth in this ranking is because the Raptors don’t have the requisite shooting (24th in 3-point attempts) or a true lob-finishing five (Poeltl is notoriously ground-bound and Mamukelashvili is more of popper than a roller) to benefit from Young’s pick-and-roll excellence. Plus, Barnes is a burgeoning playmaker in his own right (he’s second on the team in assists per game), and the ball can already get sticky with Ingram and Barrett.
4. Houston Rockets
Keeping with the theme of elite defensive teams, the Houston Rockets have been a consistently stout unit since hiring head coach Ime Udoka three seasons ago. They are third in O-TRACR, but that is predicated on second chances. The Rockets lead the NBA in offensive rebounding rate.
In the playoffs, when teams prepare to play one specific opponent several times in a row and emphasize stopping that opponent’s strengths, the Rockets may see their offensive rebounding advantage mitigated somewhat. So it would behoove Houston to add a halfcourt creator of Young’s caliber to give it another punch. Plus, Fred VanVleet gives them an easy matching salary for the trade.
Like the Raptors, the Rockets don’t have rim-running centers (although Amen Thompson can function like a center on offense, when need be) or an army of snipers to spot-up around the perimeter (29th in 3-point attempts), which diminishes Young’s ability to elevate them to new heights. Plus, adding Young would run in contrast to the culture of grit and physicality they have been trying to build under Udoka, making Ice Trae far from a perfect fit.
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2 weeks ago Donald Kolakowski3. Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are another strong defense (sixth in D-TRACR) with a questionable offense (14th in O-TRACR). Outside of Devin Booker (16th in O-DRIP) and Collin Gillespie (44th), the Suns are low in proven self-generated scorers (and even Gillespie hasn’t shown the ability to do so in a postseason setting). If the Suns want to be more than a cute regular-season story, they need to add some more firepower.
What makes the Suns a better fit for Young than the Rockets and Raptors is that they have capable alley-oop partners (Mark Williams is eighth in the NBA in dunks) and sound spacing to capitalize on the kickout passes Young loves to throw (10th in 3-point attempts).
The issue here is that the Suns have already tried to go big-game hunting with Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. We saw how much that limited them from a roster-building perspective.
Phoenix has been so much better this season in part because of how much more lineup balance they have been able to field on the court. By adding Young, they run the risk of making the same mistake twice.
2. Washington Wizards
Since the aforementioned update that sparked this whole conversation, the Washington Wizards have emerged as a candidate to land Young. This isn’t because he can make their good team better but rather because of his potential to be an adult in the room to help nurture the next generation of great Wizards’ players (not that there was ever a first generation of great Wizards’ players).
With youngsters like Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, Tre Johnson and Bub Carrington all flashing varying degrees of promise over the last few years, the Wizards are assembling a nice group of defenders, interior finishers and spacers. However, none of those players seem to be true primary playmakers. If the Wizards bring in Young, they can allow their young players to settle into roles that will simulate the kind they would be playing on a winning team.
Of course, whenever you start to regulate things, you run the risk of limiting innovation and creativity. So we’re leaving the Wizards in the second spot because adding Young would decrease the chances that any of these players (namely George) turn into a legitimate offensive focal point.
1. Minnesota Timberwolves
Of all the teams on this list, the Minnesota Timberwolves are the ones with the most recent success – making it to the Western Conference finals in each of the last two seasons.
You don’t do that without having a good roster, and the Timberwolves (almost) have it all. Their defense can hang with the best of them thanks to their size, athleticism and the presence of the best paint protector of his generation in Rudy Gobert, who still has a couple of seasons of elite defense in his tank (first in D-DRIP) and also functions as a lob magnet. Plus, they have a two-headed walking bucket in Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle and shooters like Jaden McDaniels, Donte DiVincenzo and Naz Reid to space the floor around them (in this hypothetical, one of Randle or Reid would need to go, though).
With Mike Conley’s best days behind him, the Timberwolves are in desperate need of a ball handler to lessen the burden that currently sits on Edwards’ impressively broad shoulders. Young is easily the best-known option available.
Minnesota also doesn’t have the time to worry about maintaining a certain “culture.” They are an aging core. They need to win now. Maybe Young can be the piece that finally gets them over the hump.
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Trae Trade: Ranking the Top Five Landing Spots for Trae Young Opta Analyst.
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