Trae Young addresses his ‘disappointment’ with Hawks

Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young is keeping an optimistic tone toward the team, but he did admit he is a little bit disappointed with the organization.

Young is eligible to sign a four-year, $229M contract extension with the Hawks, but the franchise has yet to offer it to him. The star guard said it has not hampered his excitement for the new season, but did confess that he was feeling a little bit of disappointment.

“I don’t know [about] the word disappointment, I mean, maybe, for sure,” Young said Tuesday, via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “For me, I’m so focused. I’m more happy about the team that we got going into this season. I’m blessed, bro. I wasn’t stressing about anything. If something happened, it happened. If it didn’t, I still got time.”

Reports earlier in the offseason suggested Young was frustrated with the lack of an offer, and that he might be pushed into free agency as a result. He is due to make roughly $46M this season, then has a player option for 2026-27 that he could opt out of. That option is increasingly likely the longer the Hawks let Young go without a new deal.

Young is a four-time All-Star who averaged 24.2 points and 11.6 assists per game last season. Despite his strong numbers, the Hawks have missed the playoffs in two consecutive seasons, and have not gotten out of the first round with Young since 2021.