The Dejounte Murray acquisition didn't help the Hawks, who are now stuck firmly in the lottery. It just seems like this Trae-centric construction has run its course, with one Cinderella run being the only reason for any lingering optimism. Even if they wanted to rebuild around him, they don't have any of their own assets, so they can't even tank; the best they could do is sell some of their non-Trae parts for pennies on the dollar and hope a retool magically fixes everything. But if they considered actually moving Trae, they could get their future back, and THEN some...

This trade has them getting back the three firsts they owe to San Antonio (including the 2026 ATL/SAS swap, which San Antonio owns the better of; now Atlanta would get both). They also get a protected first from Charlotte, though it will convert to two seconds if Charlotte doesn't make the playoffs in 2025. Either way, the asset chest would be replenished, and they can pivot to a new era. Quin Snyder likes having multiple versatile ballhandlers that can slide between on-ball and off-ball options. Dejounte can somewhat play that style, but Trae being one of the most heliocentric and ball-dominant players in the league was never a great fit. Keldon Johnson, as a 24-year-old wing who's averaging 17-6-3 as his team's third option would fit like a glove, especially as it shifts some more on-ball opportunities back to Dejounte, where he's better anyway. Subbing Trae out for Keldon Johnson in a starting lineup alongside Dejounte, De'Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela should drastically help the team's defense as well, which has really been the big thing holding them back. Even if they slip from being the 10th offense, taking a big leap from the 27th defense might be more important. The other two pieces aren't as important here, with Doug McDermott just being an expiring shooting forward who could be depth or more trade fodder, while Malakhi Branham is a 20-year-old sophomore who can replace some of Trae's minutes at guard and has 2.5 cheap years on his contract instead of a few months like Bey. All in all, this gives the Hawks a direction forward, all of their future assets back (plus more), and might not even make them THAT much worse right now.

For the Spurs, it's an easy choice. It's a masterclass of selling high and buying low. They will have essentially traded Keldon Johnson and Dejounte Murray for Trae Young, and even though those are two very good borderline-star players, Trae is on a different level. Victor Wembanyama looks borderline unstoppable when he shares the floor with their only true point guard, Tre Jones, who would be a backup floor general on most teams. His lob radius is unimaginable wide. If he could go from Jones to playing with one of the top five pick and roll artists in the league? I don't know how you stop that. And on the other end, Clint Capela was always a competent rim protector who could cover for some of Trae's mistakes, but Wemby is tiers above him. This would basically be like the Donovan Mitchell - Rudy Gobert Jazz teams, except if Donovan Mitchell was also an amazing passer, Gobert also had a three point shot, and their third option (Devin Vassell) was younger and better than Bojan Bogdanovic. That isn't to say they'd immeidately vault into contention, of course; they still have a lot of depth issues. Tre Jones, Zach Collins, Charles Bassey, and Cedi Osman are all decent-to-pretty-good backups, though it gets thin after that. The bigger problem would be the forward spots, where Bey and Jeremy Sochan would presumably start. Both are talented young players with good size and athleticism who played well down the stretch of last year, but have been inconsistent with iffy jumpers so far this year. Obviously, this team would need more; there's a reason they're at the bottom of the league right now. But this gives them a young three-man core of a star guard, rookie big, and young 3-D wing that could call to mind the Oklahoma City Thunder as soon as next year. Some Spurs fans might even claim they don't want to do a trade like this midseason and potentially win too many games to get the #1 pick, but I think when an opportunity like this presents itself, you have to take it.