NBA rumors: Trae Young is driving a toxic locker room culture in Atlanta

A report from CBS Sports indicated a strain in the Atlanta Hawks locker room between star Trae Young and “many” of his teammates.

With the Atlanta Hawks being 29-30 and in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, they decided to fire head coach Nate McMillan after three seasons at the position.

They conducted a search and ended up hiring former Utah Jazz bench boss Quin Snyder to keep up the pace to at least make the play-in tournament with one month remaining in the regular season.

As it turns out, he may have to repair the locker room as well.

CBS Sports’ Bill Reiter wrote in a recent article about there being a “serious disconnect” between star Trae Young and “many — though some say nearly all — of his teammates.”

“He is not beloved, sources say, and there’s a strong view that Young fails to lead, to understand or care to understand what is required of him, and that as a result the team will never achieve what it should until that reality is fixed,” writes Reiter.

Reported ‘serious disconnect’ between Trae Young, Hawks players

Reiter also brought up Snyder’s experience working with players with worn relationships, notably between Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. When describing the Hawks locker room, Reiter says various sources called it “ugly,” “broken,” and “total s—.”

When discussing the possibility of trading away Young, a general manager told Reiter “you can’t win with him” and an executive said the Hawks “would want a ton for him.”

This isn’t the first story regarding Young to be released this season. Back in December, Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes reported that rival executives believe that Young will request a trade from the Hawks if they can’t “make inroads come postseason time.”

Through 57 games this season, Young is averaging 26.7 points, 10.1 assists, and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 42.6 percent from the field and 32.6 percent from the three-point line.

The Hawks will be an interesting team to follow. Snyder is looking to get the Hawks rolling and into contention for a playoff or play-in spot with less than 20 games remaining in the regular season. From there, it will be onto the offseason, whenever that begins from the Hawks to see what will come of the team and Young.