A hot new trade idea from Bleacher Report wants the Hawks to trade Trae Young and Tank for Cooper Flagg

The NBA offseason has been a busy one across the league, but things have slowed down a bit and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of moves to be made. The Hawks made one of the biggest moves of the offseason when they sent Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans for Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance, EJ Liddell, Cody Zeller and two first-round picks. One of those picks is the Lakers’ unprotected pick in the 2025 draft and it could be a good move for the Hawks, who don’t have a draft pick of their own in next year’s draft.

Heading into the offseason, there was a lot of speculation about what the Hawks would do with their back line of Trae Young and Murray, with most expecting them to part ways. Atlanta did just that and traded Murray and it appears they intend to keep Young this season.

That hasn’t stopped anyone from putting together trade proposals to send Young elsewhere. Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report put together this trade proposal for the Hawks to send Young to Orlando:

Trae Young for Cole Anthony, Wendell Carter Jr., Anthony Black, a 2026 first-round pick and a 2028 first-round pick

“The Atlanta Hawks have already broken up their mismatched backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray by sending the latter to the New Orleans Pelicans, but there are still legitimate questions about the former’s ability to lead a title contender.

He’s legitimately one of the best offensive engines of all time (he’s 12th in career offensive box plus/minus), but there’s no long history of small guards leading their teams all the way in the NBA. And Atlanta hasn’t yet figured out how to deploy a competent defense with Young as its center.

There’s a real argument to be made for trading him, moving him down the draft board, and hoping for a second straight lottery win. If the Hawks were able to add Flagg to a young core that now includes Zaccharie Risacher (this summer’s No. 1 pick), Jalen Johnson, and Onyeka Okongwu, they could be in a better position for the future than they are now.

For the Orlando Magic, this trade costs them two key players from their 2023-24 rotation in Cole Anthony and Wendell Carter Jr., a promising young talent in Anthony Black, and several picks. That’s a lot to give up for a player with the weaknesses we just mentioned.

However, the Magic are also uniquely positioned to address Young’s defensive shortcomings. He can play long range with Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jonathan Isaac. And while Banchero and Wagner both have edge potential, giving them open perspectives generated by one of the game’s best creators could go a long way toward their effectiveness.

It’s somewhat of a step forward and a pretty big bet on the culture already in place, but Young could take Orlando from a fun story to a team that could really scare some of the top contenders in the East.”

This trade proposal doesn’t make sense for the Hawks for a multitude of reasons, but the main reason is that they don’t have their own draft picks in 2025, 2026, or 2027. If the Hawks wanted to bottom out and flop for Cooper Flagg, the only option to do so would be to trade Young to the Spurs and get all of their picks back. The Spurs signed Chris Paul and drafted Stephon Castle with the No. 4 pick. There were already rumors that the Spurs weren’t interested in trading Young this summer and it would make less sense to trade him this offseason since they signed Paul. It’s not as simple for the Hawks as trying to bottom out and flop for Flagg. Making this trade would only help San Antonio and not Atlanta.

Even considering the pieces the Hawks are getting in the trade, it doesn’t make much sense. Atlanta has Clint Capela, Onyeka Okongwu, Bruno Fernando, Larry Nance and Cody Zeller at center, which means they probably don’t need Wendell Carter Jr. Will the Hawks keep all of those centers? No, but I still don’t think Atlanta would be interested in Carter Jr. Anthony Black is a very interesting prospect, but Cole Anthony doesn’t bring much to the team. Having unprotected picks is a good thing, but the Magic’s picks won’t be high picks.

There is no point in putting together trade packages for Trae Young and saying the Hawks should go under unless you give them their picks back. That scenario doesn’t appear to be on the table this offseason and the only way the Hawks can get Cooper Flagg is if the Lakers help them out. This trade proposal is terrible for the Hawks and isn’t going to happen.

The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor gave his 15 observations on free agency and he doesn’t think the Atlanta Hawks are in a good position going forward:

14. The Atlanta Hawks may be in a tough spot.

“What Atlanta got in exchange for point guard Dejounte Murray is fair: first-round picks in 2025 and 2027, plus Larry Nance Jr., Dyson Daniels and E.J. Liddell. But that pales in comparison to the three valuable first-round picks and a trade the Hawks originally gave up to get Murray from San Antonio. The Hawks’ current roster is hardly playoff contender in the East, and they don’t own the rights to any of their first-round picks until 2028. If the Spurs called today to offer those picks in exchange for Trae Young, the Hawks would happily say yes. But San Antonio is holding them hostage, opting to sign CP3 as a backup rather than trade for a point guard like Trae. As good as Young is, San Antonio would have much more to gain by being patient. The Hawks have looked nothing but incompetent in recent years. They’d better hope Zaccharie Risacher succeeds, otherwise things will quickly go wrong.”

While I don’t agree with the general idea that they’re in a tough spot, it does highlight the position the Hawks are in and why Bleacher Report’s trade makes no sense. Unless the Hawks get their picks back from San Antonio, they have no reason to part ways with Cooper Flagg and that means they have no reason to trade Trae Young.