Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I feel obligated to call your attention to Hall of Famer Gary Payton’s Hello Kitty outfit that he wore to the Bucks-Warriors game.
In today’s SI:AM:
🔁 Trae Young on the move
🏈 How Indiana became a football school
🥜 The history of the Peanut Punch
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Not exactly a blockbuster
Five years ago, a midseason Trae Young trade would have rocked the NBA. When it happened last night, it barely made a ripple.
The Hawks are sending Young to the Wizards in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, according to multiple reports. A breakup between Atlanta and the four-time All-Star seemed likely after the two sides failed to come to terms on a contract extension this summer, and ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Monday that the Hawks and Young’s representatives were in talks on a potential exit, with Washington being the player’s preferred destination. Young, 27, has a $49 million player option that he can exercise for next season.
There was a time when Young seemed like he might become a store brand version of Stephen Curry. His ability to light up the scoreboard, particularly by raining down threes from well beyond the arc, made him one of the brightest young stars in the league. In 2021, he carried the Hawks to the Eastern Conference finals, a run that memorably included him taunting the crowd at Madison Square Garden after hitting a game-winner against the Knicks in the first round. But that was the best season Atlanta would have during the Young era. The Hawks made the playoffs the next two years, only to bow out in the first round, and fell short of the postseason in each of the last two years.
In some ways, the game has passed Young by. Successful teams in today’s NBA don’t have just one transcendent pure scorer. Winning hinges more on depth and complementary basketball. Playing against more well-rounded opponents also makes it difficult to hide poor defenders, and Young is a defensive liability. Last season, Hawks opponents averaged 4.6 more points per 100 possessions when Young was on the court than when he was on the bench.
Atlanta currently sits in ninth place in the East at 18–21, 3 ½ games behind the Magic for the last guaranteed spot in the playoffs and one game clear of falling out of the play-in tournament. The Wizards are 10–26, 6 ½ games behind the final play-in spot. The Hawks have undeniably been a better team without Young this season, though. Knee and quad injuries have limited Young to 10 games, and Atlanta is 2–8 in those games. It’s 16–13 without him. The Hawks averaged 126.7 points allowed per game when Young played and 117.8 when he didn’t.
The trade gives the Hawks additional roster flexibility to make other moves ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline. McCollum’s contract and Kristaps Porziņģis’s are both expiring, which helps grease the wheels in trade negotiations, and Atlanta still has plenty of draft capital after not including any picks in the Young deal. (Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix reported that “at least a few rival executives were stunned that Atlanta didn’t need to add a first-round pick as a sweetener.”) The Hawks have long been rumored to be a potential landing spot for Mavericks center Anthony Davis. Atlanta could also use the cap space cleared by the Young trade to make a big swing in free agency next summer.
Washington could be poised for more action at the deadline, too, as it looks to continue a protracted rebuild. The Young trade gives the Wizards an experienced, high-profile player to join an intriguing young core that includes Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George. Because it was a two-for-one deal, it also opens up a roster spot. Washington will have about $30 million in salary cap space next offseason, as it stands now, and could use it to lure other veterans to join Young, Sarr, George, Bilal Coulibaly and a potential lottery pick.
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Jon Wertheim paints a picture of how Curt Cignetti found a way turn Indiana into a bona fide football school.
- The Peanut Punch changed defensive football, and the skill has evolved far beyond the technique Charles Tillman originally deployed. Greg Bishop traces the Peanut Punch’s origin story, how the strike has been refined and what the future of punchouts could look like.
- Chris Mannix examines what the Trae Young trade says about the Hawks’ future.
- Pat Forde shows how Lane Kiffin is the common thread tying together college football’s two biggest messes of the moment.
- In his latest mailbag, Albert Breer explores how John Harbaugh’s firing could give quarterback Lamar Jackson more leverage for a new deal.
- The Hurricanes are the lone College Football Playoff team left with a history of success, and they want to add another title on their home field this season, writes Bryan Fischer.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. Some slick hand-eye coordination by the Canadiens’ Cole Caufield.
4. Macklin Celebrini’s sweet moves to score a late game-tying goal for the Sharks. San Jose went on to beat the Kings in overtime. (Celebrini was named to Canada’s Olympic roster last week. He’ll be the first teenager to represent Canada at an Olympics featuring NHL players.)
3. Kentucky guard Otega Oweh’s first-half buzzer beater from the opposite free-throw line.
2. Immanuel Quickley’s game-winning buzzer beater for the Raptors. Just as good as Quickley’s shot was the call by the always excitable Hornets announcer Eric Collins.
1. The outrageous finish to the Magic-Nets game. First, Brooklyn’s Egor Dёmin banked home a three to give his team the lead. Then, Orlando’s Paolo Banchero hit a game-winner three at the buzzer—also off the glass.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Trae Young Kicks Off NBA Trade Season.
