Why Trae Young Reportedly Won't Play Much for Wizards After Trade from Hawks

Even though the addition of Trae Young has added some intrigue to this season for the Washington Wizards, there are questions about how much he will actually suit up for them.

On the latest episode of The Hoop Collective Podcast (starts at 10:25 mark), ESPN's Brian Windhorst explained he doesn't expect Young to play a lot for the Wizards because want to protect their 2026 first-round draft pick.

This was also something that The Athletic's Josh Robbins, who covers the Wizards, suggested could happen after the Young deal went down.

The Phoenix Suns have swap rights with the Wizards for their first-round pick in the upcoming draft, but it only conveys if Washington picks outside of the top eight.

Washington reportedly agreed to acquire Young from the Atlanta Hawks for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert on Wednesday.

As things currently stand, the Wizards have the fourth-worst record in the NBA (10-26). If they maintain that position for the rest of the season, they would be guaranteed to pick in the top eight because lottery rules stipulate a team can't fall further than four spots from their original position.

In a separate report from Windhorst and Tim Bontemps, one NBA scout suggested that one reason the Wizards made the trade because McCollum was playing too well for them.

"They could say it's a coincidence," the scout said, "but them doing this deal now after McCollum was leading them to wins they don't need probably played a role."

One parallel to this deal is the Toronto Raptors' acquisition of Brandon Ingram from the New Orleans Pelicans prior to the trade deadline last season.

Ingram had already missed two months because of a sprained ankle and wound up sitting out the rest of the season after going to Toronto. The Raptors were 16-35 at the time of the trade, finished 30-52 overall and won the ninth pick in the 2025 draft lottery.

One executive explained to Windhorst and Bontemps that this type of roster and lottery maneuvering is becoming more commonplace under the current system:

"This is what life is like under our [draft] lottery system, with partially protected draft picks. You have one team [the Hawks] that doesn't have its pick trading a player because they were losing too much when he was playing. And you have another team [the Wizards] who desperately needs to keep its pick who may find a reason not to play the same player because they might win too much if he plays."

Young only played 10 games this season with the Hawks due to knee and quad injuries. He averaged 19.3 points and 8.9 assists per game in those appearances, though Atlanta only went 2-8 with him on the floor.

The Wizards will reportedly proceed with caution as Young recovers from his recent injuries and there is no official timeline for him to debut. Their next game is against the Pelicans at Capital One Arena on Friday night.