Trae Young Reveals He Didn't Feel 'As Comfortable' with Hawks After Onsi Saleh Was Hired as GM

Four-time NBA All-Star Trae Young sensed an internal shift within the Atlanta Hawks once Onsi Saleh took over as the leading voice inside the front office.

"I love the owner, Tony (Ressler), and all the ownership group and everybody down there," Young said on Michael Porter Jr.'s Curious Mike podcast (via Josh Robbins of The Athletic). "So I have much love to a lot of people down there in Atlanta, so I never wanted to leave (in) a bad way. But once we got on that third GM, and we brought in Onsi, it's like you don't necessarily feel as comfortable as you did (when) you got there. … There are so many things I won't say until later on, but sometimes it's just better just to let things go."

A new general manager or president of basketball operations can always be a little disruptive for a player who's positioned as the franchise cornerstone.

In the case of Young, Saleh wasn't the GM who acquired him in a draft-night trade in 2018 or gave him a max extension in 2021.

Saleh was first brought to Atlanta as assistant general manager in 2024 and got promoted to the top job a year later. This past May, he earned another promotion to president of basketball ops.

Young told Porter he knew Saleh's ascension was potentially a big change to the status quo.

"I've experienced, obviously, the one that drafted me, and then we brought in another GM who made some (changes)," he said. "And so when we brought our third one … we all knew around me that it's either we're going to be around here for the long haul and we win or it may be time for everybody to just part their ways."

Along with that, the Hawks' performance raised questions over whether building around Young remained the best path forward. Following a trip to the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals, Atlanta suffered two straight first-round exits and didn't make the postseason at all in 2023 or 2024.

Young's trade to the Washington Wizards illustrated how far his stock had fallen. It was effectively a salary dump as the Hawks didn't get a single draft pick back.

His exit from Atlanta was probably inevitable from the moment Travis Schlenk stepped down in December 2022. Young lost his biggest advocate in the organization.

It sounds like Saleh took a more dispassionate approach toward the 6'2" guard and what needed to happen to move the Hawks forward.