Grade the haul: Proposed 3-team Trae Young trade shakes up the Spurs and Thunder

The Atlanta Hawks now have the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft and a safety net if they decide to try and shake up this underperforming roster. They gave up a massive draft pick haul to add Dejounte Murray two years ago and have spent more than a year reportedly exploring trading both him and Trae Young.

They haven't signed off on any trades yet but that No. 1 pick allows them to add a transformative defensive presence like Alex Sarr, a new primary ball-handler like Nikola Topic or a star-upside gamble like Zaccharie Risacher. Regardless of who they select, they have a level of control that wasn't there a few weeks ago which could make trading Trae Young far more palatable.

Young has already been linked in rumors with both the Lakers and Spurs but given his contract, recent struggles and style of play pulling off a deal will have a lot of moving parts. Fans and media are already putting the NBA Trade Machine through its paces and today we're going to look at one hypothetical trade from Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report.

The Bleacher Report proposal doesn't seem totally clear on where the picks are coming from but given the framework of the trade I'm assuming they're all covering from the Spurs.

For the Spurs: I'm skeptical. The Spurs are adding two very good playmakers who theoretically help set up easy shots for Victor Wembanyama. But I think that's a vast oversimplification. Both Young and Giddey are great passers with terrific vision but both are extremely shaky shooters with nowhere near the gravity their creation ability implies. No one is sending Wembanyama's defender at Giddey or Young to try and get the ball out of their hands. In the worst-case scenario, Giddey creates the same spacing problems for the Spurs as he does for the Thunder and Young's ball dominance relegates Wembanyama to an offensive rebounding threat.

Wembanyama has an unbelievably unique combination of size and skill and the team could be looking for ground-breaking ways to use him to break defenses. This trade seems to lock them into a very conventional approach and one that doesn't seem likely to work all that well.

Grade: D-

For the Thunder: Giddey is actually shooting reasonably well in the postseason — 38.5 percent from beyond the arc — but his role has shrunk as opposing defenses have been more than comfortable giving him space and tilting their attention elsewhere. He looks extraneous to their future in ways that would have been unthinkable last year, but here we are.

This deal actually works pretty well for the Thunder. Garrison Matthews is a non-factor but this could clear some of the roster logjam on the wing and create more minutes for Isaiah Joe, Cason Wallace and Ousmane Dieng moving forward. The big additions are Zach Collins and a future first-rounder, the Mavs' 2030 pick which they currently owe the Spurs. That pick could be valuable depending on how Luka Doncic's future works out. And Collins is a perfect fit — a big body and an excellent defender who has become very good as an elbow hub.

Grade: B

For the Hawks: This seems like a mixed bag to me for the Hawks. There's potential for huge addition by subtraction with Young moving on but the return isn't all that exciting. Keldon Johnson is a very solid two-way wing on a reasonable contract but he duplicats a lot of what they already have De'Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic, A.J. Griffin and potentially Saddiq Bey, if they decided to try and re-sign him. They also get two picks and a pick-swap back from the Spurs but one of those picks and the swap is their own and might be less valuable than picks from other rebuilding teams, given that they're trying to build a contender.

The problem is there might not be much else out there for them in exchange for Trae Young and certainly no other hypothetical deals that blow this away. But I think this one would turn out to be far more about shedding Young and starting over than it would be about any particular asset coming back.

Grade: B-