BREAKING: Hawks' Trae Young Whisked to Washington in Trade (Report)

Point guard Trae Young is on his way to the Washington Wizards in a blockbuster barter with the Atlanta Hawks.

Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

The Washington Wizards appeared to have conjured up a new franchise face.

Per Shams Charania of ESPN, the Wizards have obtained Atlanta Hawks franchise face Trae Young in a blockbuster trade with their Southeast Division counterparts. Charania reports that the Wizards will ship Corey Kispert and C.J. McCollum to Atlanta in return.

Thus ends Young’s reign as the franchise face of the Hawks, who acquired him in a 2018 draft night deal with the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for fellow future All-Star and trade headliner Luka Doncic, the player the Hawks actually drafted at No. 3. Young, who spent one season at Oklahoma after a record-breaking high school career at Norman North (Okla.), is perhaps best-known in Hawk lore for his work in the 2021 playoffs, which saw him break out for 28.8 points and 9.5 assists en route to the Eastern Conference Finals. Young became particularly notorious among New York Knicks fans after he spoiled the team’s first postseason showing in eight years during a five-game win in the opening round.

Luka and Trae:

— Traded for each other on draft night
— Doncic: 1st in PPG by an active player
— Young: 1st in APG by an active player
— Both top 5 all-time in PPG + APG
— 1st and 2nd in 30/10a games since 2019

Both traded away this year; only 1 first round pick was involved. pic.twitter.com/rhREvTfH4f

— StatMuse (@statmuse) January 8, 2026

Since then, however, Young has appeared in but 11 playoff games and none since 2023. Young kept up strong production numbers since the ECF trip, as he appeared in three All-Star Games since then and led the league in assists per game last season. The Hawks, however, haven’t come close to the ECF again.

It was clear, however, that Young was usurped in the Hawk hierarchy by players like Dyson Daniels and Jalen Johnson. Even more damning, the Hawks (18-21) improved to 16-11 without Young in the lineup this season with a win over New Orleans on Wednesday. Young has appeared in but 10 games this season, and none since Dec. 27, due to lingering MCL woes.

The medical and financial woes ($48.9 million on the final year of the contract that comes from Atlanta) made Young even more expendable and he’s now set to headline a Washington group that is finally generating a little momentum in a seemingly-eternal rebuild. The Wizards (10-26) had won five of their most recent seven games before dropping a 131-110 decision to Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Young departs Atlanta as the sixth-leading scorer in Hawks history as well as the franchise’s all-time leader in assists and 3-pointers. Going to the nation’s capital reunites Young with Wizards vice president of player personnel Travis Schlenk, who was the Hawks’ general manager when Young arrived in 2018.

McCollum was the Wizards’ leading scorer at 18.8 points per game during his first tour with the team. He and Kispert (who was recently sidelined with a hamstring issue) now join an Atlanta group that sits 3.5 games behind Cleveland for the sixth and final automatic playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta may not be done, as Charania’s report noted that the financial freedom granted by the Young trade could allow it to go after “prime trade target” Anthony Davis of the Dallas Mavericks.

Washington is slated to visit Atlanta on consecutive occasions in late February. In the meantime, both teams are back in action on Friday night, with the Wizards hosting New Orleans, while the Hawks travel to Denver.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags