After reaching the Eastern Conference Finals two years ago, the Atlanta Hawks have been on a downward trajectory. The club swung big this past offseason, after a humiliating first-round exit, by acquiring Dejounte Murray, giving Trae Young the first All-Star teammate of his career. But everything has gone wrong in one of the most highly anticipated seasons in franchise history.
It began before the season started when the Hawks traded away Kevin Huerter for a measly first-round pick and Justin Holiday, seemingly in a salary dump. That deal shed a bad light on ownership, who has stated multiple times the luxury tax doesn’t scare them — obviously, it does. But that’s not even the worst of it.
Despite boasting a decent record, the talent on the roster warrants better results. Injuries and trade rumors haven’t helped; combine those with reports of turmoil within the locker room, and an implosion seems inevitable.
According to Heavy Sports, the relationship between Trae Young and coach Nate McMillan has worsened since the Denver fiasco, which infamously resulted in the superstar point guard not showing up to the game altogether.
“It’s a very toxic situation right now,” said one league executive, via Heavy Sports. “It’s been going on for about a month now, and it looks like it’s getting worse.”
To make matters worse, those same reports paint an even darker picture of the overall locker room chemistry.
“He doesn’t like the coach, the coach doesn’t like him, and other players have issues with Trae also.”
The Hawks are seemingly on the brink of blowing up the entire roster or something worse — trading Trae Young. From an outside perspective, it seems everything is going wrong for the Hawks, and it doesn’t help that every insider is reporting it’s grimmer than what the surface level would indicate.
Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report is now reporting that Trae Young could be the next superstar to request a trade.
“Rival executives in attendance at the NBA’s annual G League Winter Showcase are of the belief that Atlanta Hawks star point guard Trae Young could be the next player on a rookie max extension to request a trade if the team doesn’t make inroads come postseason time,” Haynes stated.
Haynes also reported that Young and new GM Landry Fields meet regularly and have a great relationship, so that’s a positive sign. But there are a lot of behind-the-scenes issues that the public doesn’t know about. The Denver spat, chemistry issues, trade rumors, Schlenk stepping down… there’s something brewing, but Trae Young trade rumors shouldn’t concern Hawks fans, even if he requests one, because the team holds total control.
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Photo: Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire
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