Trae Young has been linked with a potential trade to the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers, but sources tell ESPN’s Zach Lowe that neither team has shown much interest in acquiring him recently. The Hawks are resetting their roster around Young, Jalen Johnson and Zaccharie Risacher after trading away Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Spurs control Atlanta first round picks in 2025, 2026 and 2027, creating little incentive for the Hawks to enter into a full rebuild. This also puts San Antonio in a unique position where they could probably acquire Young at a lesser cost than only other team because they could hand those draft picks back to the Hawks as part of a trade. The Houston Rockets were in a similar position with the Brooklyn Nets on trade talks with Mikal Bridges, but he was traded instead at a higher price to the New York Knicks while they acquired future picks from the Phoenix Suns instead.
Young, who is represented by Aaron Mintz and Drew Morrison, is on a five-year, $212 million contract after he qualified for the Rose rule in 2022. Young cannot become a free agent until 2026 with his player option. In 54 games in 23-24, Young averaged 25.7 points, 10.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 36.0 minutes. As talented as Young is as the engine of an offense, he can be excessively heliocentric and is also a liability on defense.
“The market for Young is as chilly as it has ever been,” writes Lowe.