Trae Young, Hawks won’t agree on contract extension before NBA season: Sources – The Athletic

admin-cdn23 October، 2025

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Trae Young, Hawks won’t agree on contract extension before NBA season: Sources - The Athletic

Trae Young averaged 24.2 points a game and a league-leading 11.6 assists last season. Troy Taormina / Imagn Images

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Hawks and Trae Young will not agree to a contract extension before the start of the regular season, league sources told The Athletic on Thursday.

Young, 27, is entering the final guaranteed season of his contract and can become a free agent next summer if he does not sign a new deal before then. He is still eligible to extend with the Hawks during the 2025-26 season.

He will make $46 million in 2025-26 and has a $49 million player option in 2026-27. If he declines the option, Young will become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career.

After renovating its roster this summer, Atlanta is waiting to evaluate how a new group meshes together.

The Hawks spent the summer surrounding Young, a four-time All-Star, with defensive-minded athletes who can shoot and create. They traded for Kristaps Porziņģis, who will hit free agency next summer and told The Athletic this week that he would like to play the year out instead of signing an extension. They also acquired defensive dynamo Nickeil Alexander-Walker and sharpshooter Luke Kennard. The trio adds to a core that already includes Young, potential All-Star Jalen Johnson, reigning Most Improved Player Dyson Daniels, former No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher and up-and-coming big man Onyeka Okongwu.

Solving Young’s contract situation, whether it happens in-season or next summer, is not the only item on the Hawks’ to-do list. Porziņģis and Kennard are set to hit free agency after this season. Daniels is eligible for an extension as well, though he only has until Oct. 20 to sign it. If he and the Hawks don’t agree, then he will become a restricted free agent in 2026 — though Atlanta is confident it will hold onto the 22-year-old, whether it signs him this week or a year from now, league sources said.

Atlanta has high hopes for this season, when it will try to finish above the Play-In tournament for the first time in four years.

Young, who averaged 24.2 points and a league-leading 11.6 assists per game last season, is at the center of those aspirations. He has averaged 25.3 points and 9.8 assists over his first seven NBA seasons, helping the Hawks to the Eastern Conference finals in 2021.

Oct 21, 2025