Trae Young Gives Honest Statement About His Future

One of the most talked about storylines for this NBA offseason will be what the Atlanta Hawks will do with their backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. Since acquiring Murray from the Spurs two years ago, the results have been underwhelming and there is a lot of belief around the NBA that the Hawks will trade one of them this summer. Who that is remains the question.

During his exit interview after the loss to the Chicago Bulls in the play-in tournament, Young reiterated that he wants to remain in Atlanta and that he wants to win championships:

"Every year teams are different, obviously, I want to be here, but I want to win. I want to be here and I want to win championships here and do that, but I want to win, I mean, that is pretty much all it is for me, that is my motto and that has been me from the beginning."

When asked if he thought he could win with the Hawks or if it was with someone else, this was Young's response:

"I believe it can be here, we just have to make it happen."

On his latest episode of "From The Point", Young addressed his statement from the exit interview:

"I think... it means what it means. Everybody knows that I want to be in Atlanta. When I was drafted here, I said that I wanted to spend my whole career here, but at the same time, I want to win. So like, if we are not on the same page at all and wanting to win right now, there are times that teams want to be slow with winning and a process but I am not there anymore, like I want to win and I have always been that way, I feel like I don't have very much time to waste. So, I just want to continue to play at a high level and I can do that and play at a high level and win"

This summer is shaping up to be a potentially wild one in the NBA and the Hawks might be at the center of it no matter who they decide to trade.

In terms of getting Young some help in Atlanta, there is at least one interesting scenario that could play out this summer, even though it is a longshot.

Phoenix sent pretty much everything they had for Kevin Durant at last year's trade deadline and while they could not get all of that back, Durant is still one of the elite players in the NBA and would garner a lot of interest around the league, though how much is a good question given that Durant is 36 years old.

On the latest episode of the Lowe Post Podcast, ESPN NBA analyst Zach Lowe and Bobby Marks were speculating on hypothetical trades for Durant this summer and Lowe mentioned the Atlanta Hawks as a destination:

"Orlando would be the most fun, but it is not their M.O. The one that kinda makes sense, in theory is Atlanta, for one of the point guards, De'Andre Hunter, Saddiq Bey, just throw all of the wings in, but they just don't have any picks, they have the Sacramento pick and like one other future pick that they could trade, they just don't have any picks, but that is a fun little fake one."

This past season, Durnat averaged over 27 PPG on 52% shooting from the field and 41% from three and he played in 75 of 82 games this year. He also averaged nearly seven rebounds per game and five assists per game. The question would be how many more seasons of that can he give like that? It could be three or four, but its possible that its just one. He is likely going to be an All-NBA selection this year.

I think a Durant trade this summer would be fascinating to see. He is clearly still a great player, but his age and the fact he ony has two years on his deal might make teams hesitate to give up a lot for him. Phoenix sent Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, and four unprotected picks, as well as a pick swap in 2028. I seriously doubt that Phoenix could get that type of return back for Durant, but they won't get pennies either.

It will also be interesting to see what Phoenix would prioritize in a trade. They are stuck with Beal because he still has a no trade clause in his contract and given that contract, no team is going to want to trade for him, especially after the season he has had. They still have Booker unless he either demands a trade or Phoenix makes the decision to blow the whole thing up. I doubt they would do that though considering they don't have all of their own picks. Trading Durant seems to be the best possible path to acquiring assets.