Trae Young took to social media Friday to offer his first reaction to the blockbuster trade that sent him from the Atlanta Hawks to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
Young posted a statement on X in which he acknowledged his time in Atlanta and expressed optimism for the future:
After parts of eight seasons and four All-Star selections with the Hawks, Young was dealt to the Wizards on Wednesday in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert.
Originally the fifth overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft out of Oklahoma, Young was highly productive during his Hawks tenure.
In 493 regular-season games for the franchise, he averaged 25.2 points, 9.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, 2.6 three-pointers made and 1.0 steal per contest, while shooting 43.2 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from beyond the arc.
The team success wasn’t quite on par with Young’s individual success, but he did help lead the Hawks to the playoffs in three straight years from 2021 to 2023.
The most memorable postseason run during that stretch came in 2021 when Atlanta beat the New York Knicks in the first round and shocked the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round to reach the Eastern Conference Finals.
Atlanta fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games in the ECF, and they never came close to that level again during Young’s term, as the Hawks experienced first-round playoff exits in each of the next two years.
Young alluded to the ECF run in his statement Friday, writing, “The last few years weren’t how I wanted them to be. Expectations that we created for ourselves. Reaching heights that Atlanta has never reached before.”
Despite missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, the Hawks entered the 2025-26 campaign with hopes of being contenders in the wide-open Eastern Conference.
In addition to Young returning and both Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels building off breakout 2024-25 seasons, the Hawks made key offseason additions in the form of Kristaps Porziņģis and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
Despite that, the Hawks are only 18-21, placing them ninth in the Eastern Conference at around the midway point of the season.
Before the trade, Young was limited to only 10 games played because of a quad injury, and it is unclear when he will be able to make his Wizards debut.
Young now finds himself in a much different situation in Washington, as the Wizards have the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference at 10-26.
Washington has some young talent and promise for the future, but it remains to be seen if Young will be with the team beyond this season since he has a player option for 2026-27.
