Offseason Trade Packages for Atlanta Hawks Star Guard Trae Young

Despite playing a bit better of late, the Atlanta Hawks are still below .500, at the tail end of the Eastern Conference's play-in range and one of this NBA season's more disappointing teams.

If those three things remain through the end of the season, some Trae Young noise that showed up this week is only going to get louder.

"The decision to keep [Dejounte] Murray, however, certainly has more than a few front offices out there believing that the Hawks could reach the point—provided this season doesn't end well—that they entertain the most dramatic possible reset," longtime reporter Marc Stein wrote. "Perhaps the more significant reason why Trae Trade Talk has a more tangible feel than ever before: There appears to be a true market forming for Young for really the first time in his six seasons as a Hawk."

If that market gets competitive enough, and Atlanta continues to underwhelm (the Hawks are minus-2.0 points per 100 possessions with Young and Murray both on the floor over their season-and-a-half together), Young could actually be on the move this summer.

And the four teams below not only make sense as potential Young suitors, but they also have trade packages that would have to make Atlanta's front office think.

Los Angeles Lakers

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LeBron James, Trae Young and Austin Reaves

The Deal: Trae Young for D'Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jalen Hood-Schifino, a 2024 first-round pick, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2031 first-round pick

Shortly after the Los Angeles Lakers stood pat at this season's trade deadline, The Athletic's Jovan Buha shed some light on their cautious approach.

"Most conversations transitioned to teams asking for their two best assets: their 2029 first-round pick—the only pick they could trade until this summer—and Austin Reaves," Buha wrote. "Moving forward, the Lakers plan to use the three picks that they will have available this summer—2031, 2029 and either 2024 or 2025, depending on which pick the New Orleans Pelicans choose to receive as part of their return for 2019's Anthony Davis trade—to pursue a star via trade."

He later named Young as a potential target for those plans. And it's not hard to see why L.A. would be interested in the superstar playmaker.

Despite LeBron James and Anthony Davis playing like top-10 to -15 players all season, the Lakers have a below-average offense. Atlanta, despite the misfit between Young and Murray, has a top-10 attack.

And as LeBron creeps closer to 40 (a threshold he'll cross during the 2024-25 season), having another high-end (to put it lightly) playmaker alongside him would be nice.

Over the last two seasons, Young has averaged a whopping 26.5 points, 10.5 assists and 2.6 threes. And he's still just 25 years old, which means he and AD could be the post-LeBron faces of the franchise together.

Three firsts, a prospect, a good offensive player in Russell and a potential three-and-D forward in Hachimura may be a lot to give up (and given what's coming back, maybe Reaves makes more sense in this package than Hachimura), but Young would undoubtedly raise the short-term ceiling higher than all of the above.

And a team with Davis and Jarred Vanderbilt could be pretty well-suited to cover for Young's defensive shortcomings.

Orlando Magic

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Trae Young and Paolo Banchero

The Deal: Trae Young for Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, a 2024 first-round pick, a 2026 first-round pick and a 2028 first-round pick swap

The Orlando Magic are in a unique position to pounce on a potential opportunity like Young hitting the trade market.

Thanks to some team options and expiring contracts, the front office can get to over $60 million in cap space this summer. Young makes $43 million in 2024-25. So in theory, Orlando might not have to send out any salary to get him in a trade.

But surely, the Hawks will insist on at least a little proven (or somewhat proven) talent in a move that unloads their face of the franchise. And this deal gets them a heat-check-off-the-bench scorer in Anthony and one of the game's best perimeter defenders in Suggs. Those two are 23 and 22 years old, respectively, and would make up two-thirds of a solid guard rotation with Murray.

Perhaps more importantly, though, this package helps the Hawks recoup much of what it lost in 2022's Murray trade, at least in terms of draft capital.

For the Magic, they already have one of the game's best and most exciting young forward duos in Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. Along with Jonathan Isaac, who's been one of the best all-around defenders in the NBA this season, Orlando has a dynamite and defensively dominant frontcourt.

But the Magic are bottom 10 (and flirting with bottom five) on offense. Long term, all the ball-handling Paolo and Franz are doing could pay off, but pairing them with one of the league's best distributors could expedite the development of other parts of their games.

Young would set up significantly more open threes and looks at the rim for both forwards. And the gravity he has as a well-beyond-the-three-point-line shooter would widen driving lanes for everyone else on the team.

Orlando has been one of this season's best surprises. And the amount of young talent it has would make it easy to justify a slow, patient build with what's already on the roster. But Banchero and Wagner are also good enough to justify a win-now move like this.

Brooklyn Nets

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Trae Young and Mikal Bridges

The Deal: Trae Young for Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2027 first-round pick (via Phoenix), a 2028 first-round pick and a 2030 first-round pick swap

There's maybe an argument to simplify this deal a bit and plug Ben Simmons in for Johnson and DFS. That would give Atlanta an expiring contract to either trade or just let expire after 2024-25.

But if the Hawks are keeping Murray, Onyeka Okongwu and Jalen Johnson, it's probably safe to assume they're more interested in staying competitive than angling toward a total teardown (which is what a Simmons acquisition would signal).

And in the pursuit of staying competitive, picking up Johnson and Finney-Smith makes a lot of sense for Atlanta. It would suddenly have a Murray-led lineup with tons of switchability on defense and multiple catch-and-shoot outlets to surround his drives.

For the Nets, this trade gives them a potential path out of the basketball purgatory they've been in since trading Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant last season.

There's a decent amount of talent on that roster, but there probably isn't a single bona fide star (depending on how you feel about Cam Thomas).

Mikal Bridges and Nic Claxton are solid, but both are probably one or two spots higher in the pecking order than they should be. Young would push them closer to their more natural roles, create better scoring opportunities for them (and everyone else on the team) and give Brooklyn the identity it's lacked for the last 12 months.

San Antonio Spurs

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Victor Wembanyama and Trae Young

The Deal: Trae Young for Keldon Johnson, Devonte' Graham, a 2024 first-round pick, a 2026 first-round pick and a 2028 first-round pick

Like the Magic, the San Antonio Spurs have the ability to create plenty of cap space this summer (in their case, over $30 million). So, star acquisitions are easier for them than plenty of other teams around the league.

And in the original Stein report that tipped off all this speculation, the Spurs are mentioned as perhaps the leading suitor.

It's not hard to see why San Antonio might be interested, nor is it difficult to get excited about the possibility of teaming Young with Victor Wembanyama.

The former is one of the most prolific pick-and-roll playmakers and lob passers in NBA history. The latter is having a historically great rookie campaign, despite his team experimenting with garbage-man forward Jeremy Sochan at point guard for much of the season.

Wembanyama at the 5 and with Tre Jones setting him up is terrifying for opponents. Wembanyama with Young would be an absolute nightmare.

And since this trade keeps Devin Vassell, Sochan and much of the aforementioned cap space in San Antonio, a leap from the bottom of the West to playoff contention in 2024-25 wouldn't be shocking.

For the Hawks, this deal gives them draft capital. That's obviously going to be a priority in any Young trade, but it also gives Atlanta a backup 1 to enter the rotation behind Murray and a bully-ball wing to start alongside him.