Washington has a young core with potential. Alex Sarr is starting to break out in his second season, plus Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, Bub Carrington and the two-way potential of Bilal Coulibaly. What the Wizards lacked was an elite offensive player to tie it all together.
Enter Trae Young.
As has been rumored for days, the Atlanta Hawks have agreed to trade Young to Washington for CJ McCollum and wing Corey Kispert, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN and since confirmed by others. There are no picks reportedly part of this deal.
It felt meaningful that McCollum and Kispert were held out of the Wizards game on Wednesday, and the trade happened mid-game with Young saying his goodbyes to teammates in the arena.
Now Young gets to go to his preferred destination in Washington, while Atlanta gets to move on, and now has added financial flexibility for its efforts to trade for Anthony Davis or another star.
Young exits Atlanta, where he has been the face of the franchise since they traded for him on draft night in 2018, more than seven years ago. He has been an entertaining fan favorite who averaged 25.2 points and 9.8 assists a game for the team and was a three-time All-Star. Young led the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, only the second time the franchise had made it that far.
The writing was on the wall for Young’s exit last summer when Atlanta chose not to extend his contract, instead opting to see how he looked with a revamped, healthy roster built to maximize his skill set. The reality is the Hawks have been better without him this season — when he missed 22 games with a knee sprain, the Hawks went 13-9 and saw another path forward. Overall, they are 2-8 in the 10 games Young has played and 15-13 in the games he has missed. As this season moved along, it became clear that the Hawks were ready to pivot to a roster built around length and athleticism, featuring Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and others.
The decision to trade Young was mutual, and his agents at CAA were working with the Hawks to find a trade that worked for everyone. Washington was his preferred destination.
For the Hawks, if they hold on to him through the end of the season, get a player who can still get a bucket in McCollum, averaging 18.8 points a game, but also has a $30.7 million expiring contract.
CJ McCollum to me on trade to Atlanta: “Loved my time in DC. Organization was great to my family and I. Michael Winger and Will [Dawkins] did everything they said they would and kept their word from the very beginning. Love the city and they’re doing things the right way over…
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) January 8, 2026
That contract would be a big part of landing Anthony Davis in a trade, if a deal can be worked out. If not, McCollum can help in the short term, while Kispert — a sharpshooting 6’6″ wing hitting 39.5% from 3 point range this season, averaging 9.2 points a game — will blend right into the Hawks rotation.
For Washington, they get a box office draw and someone for fans to rally around, an All-Star level offensive player who can lead their team on the court — and they gave up almost nothing. This was low risk. Young has a $48.9 million player option for next season and the expectation in league circles is he will pick it up (which Washington expects). Young and his agents wanted him to join a team that would be interested in discussing a contract extension, but the Wizards will likely want to see how things mesh and go into next season with Young on an expiring contract. If he clicks with the core, they can extend him; if not, everyone can move on.
How much we see of Young the rest of this season is up for debate, as Washington owes its first-round pick to New York, but it is top-eight protected. Washington, 10-25, doesn’t want to start winning too much all of a sudden and lose their pick in a deep draft with some potential franchise cornerstones at the top. The Wizards would currently enter the lottery with the No. 4 pick and are not going to want that to change too much.
