The NBA offseason is already off to a tumultuous start, with plenty of rumors flying around about stars relocating to different franchises, including the likes of Kyrie Irving, Jordan Poole, and now Trae Young.
Does Trae Young Want Out Of ATL?
The 24-year-old Atlanta Hawks star has recently scrubbed his team’s name from his social media pages, and in the weeks immediately following the Hawks’ first-round exit from the playoffs internet speculation was rife that Trae Young wanted to be traded from the Hawks.
With the season over for Trae and Atlanta, these rumors have resurfaced in the form of talk about a potential deal with the L.A. Lakers. Not only did Young appear at a Lakers game during their Western Conference finals series against Denver, but he appeared with Rich Paul, the head of Klutch Sports, the agency that represents Young as well as LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Though many fans are drawing conclusions about Trae’s actions, he explained himself on his new podcast “From The Point By Trae Young.”
“A lot of people made a lot of things out of me being at games,” Young explained. “I’ve been to a lot of games throughout my years. I’ve always been a fan of the game. … Most of the time I’ve got a friend playing that I’m there watching, like [Michael Porter Jr.] for Denver.”
The speculation also comes because the Lakers are searching for another star point guard after D’Angelo Russell had a lackluster playoff performance while getting swept in the conference finals by Denver.
They’re looking to upgrade the guard position and have looked at the possibility of getting Kyrie Irving, though Irving is reportedly not interested in the Lakers. They are also looking to acquire Fred Vanvleet, a free agent this offseason, and at last Young, who would probably require a king’s ransom of a trade to be bought over to the Lakers.
The Lakers are expected to be very aggressive this offseason as they look to surround their core of James and Davis with more star power on top of their role players such as Rui Hachimura, Austin Reeves, and Jared Vanderbilt, who all proved themselves vital pieces to a competitive Lakers squad.
There are also rumors that Young is open to joining the Lakers. But the Hawks, who are just two years removed from an Eastern Conference Finals appearance wanted to capitalize off of Young’s brilliance by bringing another star to Atlanta to play with him, as well as keep him interested in playing with Atlanta after they made the playoffs by winning both of their play-in games but lost to the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs in five games.
Moves like bringing in former Spur Dejounte Murray and hiring coach Quinn Snyder mid-season were also made in an effort to keep their star happy. Still, neither of those moves could prevent them from having a repeat of last season, barely making the playoffs through the play-in and losing to Boston in 6 games.
Young might just be tired of all the scrutiny he gets when the Hawks are doing badly. Atlanta’s core has been together for the majority of Young’s career and he’s had some magical moments.
This team as currently constructed can’t get over the hump. In fact, the franchise seems to be moving backward since 2021. Young wants to be the star and he was given the spotlight, now it seems that he might not want it.
He might feel like a change of scenery is what he needs, and Atlanta isn’t for him. It’s doubtful that the Hawks have intentions of getting rid of their best player, but if this is the beginning of Young trying to force himself out of the ATL, the 2023 season just got more interesting.
