This is a crazy scenario that probably won’t happen, but it would definitely benefit each team greatly.

Hawks hit the Re-Build button and send Trae to a situation in San Antonio where he can thrive next to Wemby. For San Antonio, it helps their offense grow around Wemby, without having too much pressure to make a playoff push in the next season. It also there to be some breathing room to figure out some of their younger core (Vassell, Sochan, Tre Jones, etc.). For the Hawks, this move them a fresh start for a team that needed a reboot anyway, since Dejounte + Trae weren’t playing well together. So instead of building around one of them, Atlanta trades Trae to get their picks back unprotected, and safely not have to worry about being bad for a couple seasons while they re-build with some high draft picks. Salary-wise, you do lose some depth with Keldon and Malaki as Trae can be taken in with some of the cap space that San Antonio will have. But, can you find some reliable depth with some of the remaining cap space + your first round picks in the 2024 draft? I definitely think so.

For the Knicks, they cash in a couple of their first round picks (and a potentially valuable Brooklyn second round pick) and Bojan’s salary to get Dejounte next to Jalen Brunson. Dejounte gives the Knicks another Ball Handler who can shoot fairly well, but also fits the mold of a 2-Way player that would fit the Knick’s system. After this playoff run, the Knicks clearly need someone to help relieve pressure off of Brunson, especially when injuries come up. Dejounte as far as we know does not get hurt often, and he can provide ball handling with New York’s bench unit to also help give Brunson some rest when they need it. Murray and Brunson also has potential to work together since Brunson has some off-ball actions to help him be effective. And hey, if the experiment doesn’t work, Murray’s salary and value around the league will be good to help the Knicks land the right piece. This also helps the Knicks re-sign OG + Hartenstein comfortably to numbers that work for everybody. Knicks would then become an apron team, but this team has shown when fully healthy that they’ll have championship-potential team.

Player-wise, New York + San Antonio get the main pieces, but Atlanta gets some solid vets + young pieces to help build a forward/center core around Alex Sarr, Jalen Johnson, Keldon Johnson and Onyeka. Malaki Branham is a solid young PG, who could thrive in a bigger role around a solid group of wings/centers. Bojan (and Bogdan as well haha) will provide some solid shooting and veteran leadership, and having a two Bogdanovic shooting attack should be fun, and Cedi Osman will provide the Hawks with a mid-20’s wing who will give you energy, experience, and heart.

Once again, I realize this scenario is probably unrealistic, but a fun exercise to think about. Let me know what you think!