There were rumors circulating around the NBA water cooler ahead of the playoffs that the Atlanta Hawks could trade Trae Young this summer.
While the idea of moving off a legitimate franchise cornerstone doesn’t seem to make sense on the surface, the current iteration of these Hawks are not realistic NBA title contenders.
The first two games of Atlanta’s first-round playoff series against a vastly superior Boston Celtics squad has told us this story.
The Hawks lost on the road in Game 2 Tuesday night by the score of 119-106. They were down by 12 at halftime before closing it to nine heading into the final stanza. Unfortunately for Quin Snyder’s squad, the fourth quarter saw Boston dominate en route to a 13-point win.
Now down 2-0 heading back home for Game 3 against the defending Eastern Conference champions, there is little hope that the Hawks can make this a series.
Young and Dejounte Murray combined for 53 points in the loss. Other than that, no one did anything of substance within the Hawks’ starting five. John Collins scored all of five points and was firmly outplayed by Boston’s frontcourt. Clint Capela played all of 22 minutes as the Hawks let Boston dictate the pace of the game.
This has been a continual issue for the Hawks. It’s a sad reality given that their front office exhausted a ton of capital to acquire Murray from the San Antonio Spurs in a blockbuster trade last summer.
The idea was to find a second star to team up with Young in the backcourt. And while Murray has done his part, the rest of these Hawks just have not stepped up at the level needed to compete in a top heavy Eastern Conference.
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After earning a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals back in 2021, most figured the Hawks would ascend the ladder in the conference and become annual contenders. Since then, it has been a complete and utter dumpster fire in the postseason.
That included Atlanta losing in five games to the Miami Heat in the first round of last year’s NBA Playoffs. The Hawks’ four losses came by a combined 61 points, leading to the front office looking to change things up during the summer.
After making their way out of the NBA Play-In Tournament, few gave the Hawks a chance against a much more talented and deep Celtics team. Through two games, that has been the case. Atlanta has lost the first two games of this lopsided series by a combined 26 points.
The backdrop here is a perceived rift between Young and the Hawks’ organization. There was widespread tension between Young and head coach Nate McMillan during the regular season before he was fired. Prior to McMillan’s firing, the Atlanta Hawks had several team meetings in an attempt to resolved issues. Most of those surrounding Trae Young himself.
Now two losses from yet another premature playoff exit, the Hawks’ future is firmly up in the air. General manager Landry Fields has several decisions to make as the season comes to a conclusion. Chief among them is Fields being given a green light from Atlanta’s ownership group to seek out a potential trade of Young. Meanwhile, the front office head sees some issues with Atlanta’s star player.
“He understands what position he’s in on the team. He understands where he needs to grow. And that’s consistent with us being a development culture and wanting to be more of that. It’s about support but it’s also about challenge. And those conversations had to be had. We’re very clear with him on what we want from him and need him to grow in.”
Atlanta Hawks general manager Landry Fields on Trae Young
Whether Young takes to this criticism or continues to show a lack of maturity will play a role in the Hawks’ decision-making process.
What we do know is that Fields’ decision to bring in veteran head coach Quin Snyder after his resignation from the Utah Jazz has the Hawks pointing in a specific direction. It just might not be with Young leading the charge.
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