Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young. Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Hawks in a tricky spot with Trae Young

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Jul 21, 2025 12:29 PM ET

Trae Young is fresh off leading the NBA in assists, in a career that has seen him average 25.3 points and 9.8 assists over seven seasons.

On paper, Young has more than earned another lucrative payday from the Hawks, but the franchise has every reason to reconsider its options. Save for the lone Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2021, the Young era in Atlanta has yielded underwhelming results, including missing the playoffs for the last two years.

The Hawks can offer their longtime franchise star a four-year, $228M max extension this offseason, but are reportedly hesitant to do so.

NBA TV's Steve Smith believes the Hawks are justified in holding out on paying Young, citing the challenges of the luxury tax aprons. However, the former All-Star warned the Hawks about the Young contract situation lingering into the new season.

"Teams used to throw out those max contracts, but are getting a little nervous now," he said. "... If I'm the Atlanta Hawks, you've got to feel comfortable going into the future. I wouldn't want this to linger on. You either do it now, or not."

Is Trae Young's future up in the air? @MattWinerTV and @steve21smith think this could be a career-defining year for Atlanta's star pic.twitter.com/peATOR2krw
— NBA TV (@NBATV) July 21, 2025

Young has a player option for the 2026-27 season, and could become a free agent next year if he and the Hawks can't agree to a new deal this summer. According to NBC Sports' Kurt Helin, the Hawks are unwilling to give Young the full four-year max, but are also wary of losing him for nothing next summer.

It's a tricky spot for the Hawks, who made a big splash this offseason with the acquisitions of Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kennard and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, a year after nabbing defensive ace Dyson Daniels and drafting Zaccharie Risacher. The question is: where does Young fit in with their new pieces?

Over the past few years, the Hawks have increasingly shown signs of pivoting away from Young as their lead dog.

In 2023-24, Dejounte Murray (18.8) attempted more shots than Young (18.7), marking the first time since the latter arrived in 2018-19. Last year, blossoming star Jalen Johnson was used in a point-forward capacity by head coach Quin Snyder in critical parts of a game. And this offseason, the Hawks added Alexander-Walker, another ball-handler, further decreasing the team's dependence on Young.

There's a realistic chance of Young entering his final season in Atlanta.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

More must-reads: