Speaking to Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report in the latest episode of her podcast, Hawks guard Trae Young said that he’s not bothered by the fact that his name has popped up in trade rumors in the weeks since last month’s deadline.
“Some of the best players ever have been traded,” Young said. “So who am I to be here mad or feeling unwanted or feeling a certain way?”
It’s worth noting that those recent rumors haven’t stemmed from sources within the Hawks, but from rival executives who came away from their pre-deadline conversations with Atlanta believing that the club will explore trading Young this offseason.
It was Dejounte Murray, rather than Young, who was the subject of frequent trade rumors in the days and weeks leading up to the deadline, but the Hawks opted not to make a move involving Murray, whose contract extends a year beyond Young’s and is far less lucrative.
Young is owed $89M over the next two years, with a $49M player option for 2025-26. Murray will make $82.6M over the next three seasons and holds a $31.5M player option for 2026-27.
Although there’s a sense that it may just be a matter of time before the club breaks up its star backcourt duo, Young told Rooks that he has no desire to leave Atlanta.
Asked whether he believes he’ll still be a Hawk next season, he replied, “Hopefully,” before going on to link his NBA home with his decision on where to play college basketball.
“I could have went to Kentucky, I could have went to Kansas, but I chose to be different and went to Oklahoma to try to win a championship,” Young said. “I wanted to go there to win for my hometown, be different."
“They’ve never won a championship in Atlanta. Me getting drafted there felt like it was a match made in heaven. Like, this is something I wanna do. I can defeat the odds here too. So for me, my whole vision was to always be here. My whole goal is to win here. Win championships, bring people here with me and build this championship here and dynasty here."
“But who knows? It’s year six now and who knows? (But) for me, I want that.”
Young is currently on the mend after undergoing surgery to repair a tear of the radial collateral ligament (RCL) in the fifth finger of his left hand.
An All-Star this season for the third time in his career, he was averaging 26.4 points and a career-high 10.8 assists this season in 51 games (36.5 MPG) before the injury, with a shooting line of .426/.371/.856.
With Young unavailable for the time being, the Hawks continue to battle for a spot in the play-in tournament. Atlanta is currently 10th in the East at 27-34, two games behind the No. 9 Bulls and 2.5 games ahead of the No. 11 Nets.
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