NBA Trade Rumors: Teams Question Trae Young as No. 1, Prefer Hawks' Dejounte Murray

The Atlanta Hawks are reportedly going to "try hard" to trade All-Star guard Trae Young this summer.

Kurt Helin of NBC Sports reported the Hawks may have trouble finding takers for Young, as most other teams prefer fellow guard Dejounte Murray.

"They are going to try hard to trade Trae Young. That's going to happen," Helin told Sportsnaut. "But from people I've talked to around the league these calls often go something like this, 'Trae Young, yeah, what would that [trade] look like? By the way, is Dejounte available?' People in the league just like Dejounte's game better.

"Where Trae Young doesn't defend, demands the ball; he scores a lot of points, gets a lot of assists, will bring your offense up — he's an All-Star [and] borderline All-NBA offensive player — but there's a sense that you can't really build a true winner around him. You could with Dejounte. They've got to move one of them, it obviously doesn't work. But it's going to be interesting to see what they might ultimately have to settle for to move Trae."

Young is a three-time All-Star who has at least two years remaining on his five-year, $215.2 million contract. He can opt out of his deal in the summer of 2026 and become an unrestricted free agent.

By contrast, Murray is just starting a four-year, $114.1 million deal with the Hawks. He's made only one All-Star team to Young's three, but the fact he comes in at less than 60 percent of the cost is attractive to teams.

It's also fair to say Murray is a player who can translate better within more offensive ecosystems. He took a backseat to Young as the Hawks' primary point guard the last two seasons but has excelled when Young sits out. Murray averaged 25.1 points, 9.1 assists and 5.8 rebounds in 28 games without Young this season.

Young is a more ball-dominant guard who struggles on defense. His value comes from his ability to pass the ball and stretch the floor on the offensive end. While he's one of the best in the league in both categories, only certain teams have the ecosystem available for Young to handle the ball so often.