What did the Hawks’ Trae Young say about his future with the team?
When questioned about a recent report suggesting that he could be traded, the Hawks star gave an intriguing response which will likely intensify speculation.
Ahead of what turned out to be a Play-In win for the Atlanta Hawks against the Miami Heat, star point guard Trae Young was asked about his future with the team and his response left more questions than answers. Hawks’ Trae Young responds to questions about possible trade
Questions about Trae Young’s future intensify
Before the Hawks took to the court on Tuesday night in what turned out to be a 116-105 Play-In Tournament win against the Miami Heat - they will now face the Boston Celtics in the 1st round of the playoffs - star point guard, Trae Young was asked about his future with the franchise. To be more specific, Young faced questions about a recent report which suggested that Atlanta’s front office was seriously considering trading him. According to Young, nobody has told him that’s the case, but he did admit on Tuesday that “stuff like that comes out all the time,” before curiously adding that “It could be false, could be true, you never know.”
Trae Young is focused on the here and now
If there is one takeaway from Young’s comments, it’s that he’d got his head in the right place. When asked about the potential effect of the Play-In games on his decision making process for the future, Young made it clear that it’s not where he places his focus. “It’s hard – you can’t look at it.”
“Especially as the player in the moment, you can’t look at what’s gonna come on next year,” Young said. “After the game, if the game doesn’t go your way tonight, what’s gonna happen? Like, you can’t focus on things like that. That messes up your head and then you’re not ready to play so, me, I’m not worried about that. I’m gonna let my game play. After the season, whatever happens, happens. I mean, I’m focused on the next task at hand. I can’t worry about the outside noise or whatever fake stories come out, or what’s true, whatever.”
Trae Young has been here before
It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time that Young’s future has been thrown into the spotlight. Indeed, according to the aforementioned report, there has been noise for some time. As recently as March, Hawks owner, Tony Ressler admitted that he was neither for nor against any of his players being traded. There was also the report from a few months ago, when it was noted that Young and former head coach, Nate McMillan, were not seeing eye-to-eye which in turn led to meetings about whether Young was fit to lead. It’s understood that players sided with the coach at the time.
The situation only escalated from there, with reports later indicating that Young could in fact request a trade if the team fails to make any real progress in the playoffs this year. This of course, has not helped to dispel the idea that Young would rather bow out with the narrative that the franchise failed to support him, rather than working with what he has in an effort to turn a clearly talented team into a contender. Whatever the case, it seems to be a situation where both camps are waiting for the other to make a move, before making a decision.
Is Trae Young worth it?
On the one hand, Young was stellar in 2021 when the Hawks made a run to the conference finals. On the other, the Knicks who they faced along the way weren’t great and the now infamous Ben Simmons incident with the 76ers was a lucky break that couldn’t have been scripted. This is to say, the jury is out on whether it was a case of Young’s leadership, or simply a fortunate turn of events. Yet, we’ve got to be honest. Trading Trae Young would be a major blow and even more so when considering that they traded Luka Doncic to acquire him. Ultimately, should the Hawks fail to make a deep run in the post season, one has to imagine that questions will be asked about Young’s future with the team. The answers we get in response will be interesting to see.