On January 7, 2026, NBA basketball player Trae Young was traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the Washington Wizards. Young was drafted fifth overall to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2018 NBA Draft. However, he was traded to the Atlanta Hawks for the third overall pick, Luka Dončić, shortly after the draft. After that trade, Young spent his entire career on the Hawks, until this most recent trade.
Young was traded in the middle of a home game against the New Orleans Pelicans. He was on the bench, and he walked off of the court as soon as he heard the news.
The Wizards believed that trading Young was the right decision and the best decision for the franchise. Young is also facing injuries, which is just an additional reason that the Wizards may have traded him.Young’s rookie year was in 2018, so he has played for the Hawks for over seven seasons straight, averaging just over 25 points per game. He also averaged over nine assists per game, which resulted in Young being the leader in assists for the Hawks. Young has had four all-star appearances, in 2020, 2022, 2024, and 2025.
With the trade, The Atlanta Hawks received C.J McCollum and Corey Kispert from the Wizards.
Many FWCD students have mixed feelings about this trade.
“Honestly, I think Trae Young is a good player, but I don’t know how reliable he is because of his injuries. I think that Atlanta still lost value in the trade, but it is not as crazy of a trade as most people are saying it is,” Andy Harrington ’28 said.
“I personally don’t like the trade because I think that the Hawks got scammed. The Hawks are receiving Corey Kispert and C.J McCollum. McCollum is very old and is not going to be good for that long and isn’t even good right now. Kispert isn’t that good either. They’re definitely not as good as Trae Young, who has superstar potential,” Bennett Klause ’28 said.
Trae Young is still recovering from an MCL injury and a quad constusion injury, so it’s undetermined when his first game with the Wizards will be. On February 24th, the Hawks will play the Wizards, which will be a heated game and a great opportunity to see some of the effects of this massive trade.
