#NBATwitter is going crazy after a report by TNT & Bleacher Report Senior NBA Insider Chris Haynes saying that a Trae Young trade request to the Atlanta Hawks may be on the horizon due to Young’s frustration towards Atlanta not building a championship contender.
B/R Sources: Rival executives are of belief Hawks guard Trae Young could be next star player to request trade if team doesn’t make inroads come playoff time. More news and nuggets for @BleacherReport: https://t.co/7u9PY3fpjJ
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) December 22, 2022
The Hawks sit at 16-16 and are the eighth seed in the East. As for Young, the young star is currently averaging 27.6 points per game, 9.8 assists per game, and 2.9 rebounds per game. The fifth-year guard has been one of the best players in the league since he arrived in 2018 when he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team; besides that, Young is a two-time All-Star, including being named a starter in the game last season.
If this rumor had begun to float before the season started, most, if not all, fans would have been shocked, but an incident that occurred a couple of weeks back does not make this a surprise; the incident happened between Young and head coach Nate McMillan as the duo had an altercation leading Young to not showing up to the next Hawks game. That was a surprising decision by Young as it felt very immature and irresponsible for a player not to show up for his team, let alone a player of Young’s caliber and respect around the league.
“He doesn’t like the coach, the coach doesn’t like him, and other players have issues with Trae also.”
– Anonymous Coach on Trae Young
(Via @SteveBHoop ) pic.twitter.com/ph6YQMWams
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 21, 2022
If this comes true shortly, some teams that come to mind for a potential Young trade are the Los Angeles Lakers, the Chicago Bulls, and the Miami Heat.
For the Lakers, it would not come as a shock if they attempted to acquire Young as they are currently very old and injury-prone due to the consistent injury history of Anthony Davis; plus, pairing up Young and LeBron James could lead to much more wins for the franchise.
As for the Bulls, the franchise in which Michael Jordan won all of his championships, sit in an interesting predicament as their name has been in the rumor mill as of late due to their lack of success this season as well as possible turmoil between Zach LaVine and his teammates; if that is indeed the case, then the Bulls may be planning to start from scratch and who better to build your team around than a guy like Young.
As for Miami, it seems as if Pat Riley and crew are always aggressive towards pursuing “whales” Riley hasn’t been shy to attempt to bring the best players to Miami, and he has been very successful in that aspect with examples like luring LeBron James and recently, trading for Jimmy Butler.
All in all, this will be a fascinating topic to cover for basketball fans, as Young is one of the best players in the league.
Let us know what you think about a potential Trae Young trade request by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.