The first big trade of the NBA season went down this week when the Atlanta Hawks dealt star point guard Trae Young to the Washington Wizards. It marked the end of an era for the Hawks as Young is one of the best and most popular players in franchise history.
Leading up to the big trade, it had been reported by several outlets that Young did not have much trade value across the league. There had been no real suitor to emerge for Young until this week when insider Marc Stein reported that Washington had emerged as a legitimate contender for Young’s services. One report from Michael Scotto at HoopsHype had the Bucks, Clippers, and Timberwolves as teams who “had interest” in Young.
It had not been known if any other team had serious interest in Young, but a report from NBA insider Jake Fischer said that the Raptors showed interest in Young and even had an offer out there:
“While we were working this week to pinpoint any other potential suitors for Young outside of Washington, we learned that the Raptors were another team that expressed some interest in the Hawks’ point guard. Sources say that Toronto actually offered a package built around Quickley and draft capital for Young before last February’s trade deadline and maintained a level of interest in Young this season.
Yet sources say that the Hawks had no interest in a Quickley-headlined package given the future money he’s owed. The Hawks staunchly prioritized the ample flexibility they now have before the the Feb. 5 trade buzzer and possibly into free agency next summer by taking back CJ McCollum’s expiring $30.7 million salary as the key return in their Young deal.”
Unless Toronto was offering an overwhelming number of unprotected picks for Young (which is very, very, very unlikely), then I think this is a very good move by the Hawks to not take that deal. Quickley is a solid player, but it would be better for the Hawks to have the flexibility that they acquired by getting McCollum’s expiring deal.
Those two players can help the Hawks now as well.
What will be their impact?
Through 35 games this season (all starts), McCollum is averaging 18.8 points on .454 shooting from the field, including .393 from three-point range on 7.0 attempts, 3.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 30.9 minutes per game, owning the 10th-best mark from deep amongst all players averaging a least 7.0 attempts. He has topped the 40-point mark twice this season, including scoring a season-best 46 points on 17-25 shooting against the Hawks on Nov. 25.
McCollum has netted 10-or-more points in his last 27 games (since Nov. 7), including 20+ points 13 times, averaging 20.9 points on .481 FG%, .410 3FG% and .802 FT%, one of only nine players to average at least 20.0 points on .400%-or-better from deep over that time (min. 25 GP).
Over the course of his 13-year career, the NBA’s Most Improved Player in 2015-16 and J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award winner in 2023-24, has appeared in 822 games (725 starts), owning averages of 19.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 32.1 minutes (.453 FG%, .397 3FG%, .799 FT%). Among all active players, he ranks 11th in three-pointers made (18th all-time) with 2,085 makes. He has averaged more than 20.0 points per game in 10 of his 12 full seasons and is one of only four active players to bury 2,000-or-more three-pointers on .395%-or-better, joining Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Buddy Hield.
The 10th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, McCollum spent his first eight seasons with the Blazers before spending time with New Orleans and Washington. He has appeared in 67 playoff games (57 starts) over 10 postseasons, averaging 20.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 35.5 minutes (.433 FG%, .368 3FG%, .766 FT%).
In his fifth season, Kispert is averaging 9.2 points on .496 shooting from the field, including shooting .395 from three, in addition to 2.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 19.5 minutes per game in 19 games (two starts).
Through 311 career games (105 starts), the 6-6 guard/forward has career averages of 10.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 25.5 minutes per game, while shooting .475 from the field, .383 from three and .802 from the free throw line. He owns the third-most three-pointers amongst his 2021 NBA Draft class and the fourth-most in Washington Wizards history (609). The Gonzaga product buried his 600th career three-pointer on Nov. 22, 2025, in his 308th career game, becoming the third-fastest Wizard to 600 triples, trailing only Gilbert Arenas and Bradley Beal.
