Marc “Marc Stein” Stein had Jake “Primus Wrote Songs About Me” Fischer on his podcast to talk about league happenings like it happens sometimes. If you don’t have access to their Patreon, my regrets, but talk moved to Trae Young at one point.
In essence, Trae Young’s future with the team is directly tied to whomever the Hawks hire as their general manager. This is a very basic point, but while from the outside it’s easy to say “The Hawks = Trae.” However, as we’ve seen from Nico Harrison, there are certain GM’s that think “The Team = Me.”
According to Stein and Fischer, at least some of the candidates the Hawks are looking at are more likely to keep Young than others — especially with the news that Young's agent could be in the mix.
If the new GM does want to move on from Trae Young, then what?
As Stein and Fischer talked about, executives around the league most mention Houston and Orlando as the primary potential destinations. Both teams are in desperate need of high level guard play at the moment.
However, in both cases, it’s a bit of an imperfect fit. While Trae really does expend commendable effort on defense at times, compared to the rest of the NBA, he’s a little dude. He can study up all he wants, communicate all he wants, gain strength to whatever degree he can, but he’s still going to be 6-foot-1 the next day.
Both Houston and Orlando rely on their defenses to bring the game into the mud when they can’t get their offenses going. Would Trae’s liabilities suddenly make that less than an option?
Regardless, it feels like a risk worth taking and a problem worth trying to scheme around. Both of these teams need an offensive jolt, and there’s no question Trae can provide that. Suddenly, the spacing he provides and the angles he can hit cutters on could aid players on either team who are a shakier shooter but better movers and drivers. And while he may not be quite Luka-level, Trae can be an offense unto himself. If he’s bringing the ball up the court, he’s already trying to find the advantage. You do not have time to rest.
It could be fun. Both the Magic and the Rockets could use the point guard play, and both would have an interesting time trying to integrate him on defense.
And if this happens before this evening, I hope the Hawks win the lottery again and the Spurs give their pick back to be nice.