National analyst says Hawks miscalculated Trae Young trade market this offseason

The Hawks made a big move this offseason by sending Dejounte Murray to the New Orleans Pelicans and they officially separated Murray and Trae Young’s backcourt two years after trading Murray. With that move, it likely signaled that the Hawks were going to continue to build around Trae Young for the future and without control of their own picks for the next three years, which is the best move unless they can get those draft picks back.

Even when the Hawks traded Murray, there were questions about whether the Hawks really wanted to continue building around Young or if they couldn’t get their asking price on the trade market. Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report wrote that the Hawks’ biggest miscalculation this offseason was the Trae Young trade market:

“The Atlanta Hawks’ decision to break up their backcourt by trading Dejounte Murray for Trae Young may turn out to be the right call. But by choosing to keep Young, whose presence has a more fundamental impact on Atlanta’s identity — how it plays on offense, what it needs to do to compensate for him on defense, how it constructs the rest of the roster — the team risks finding itself in a similar situation a year from now.

That is to say: disappointed with the results and still looking for a real reset.

The fact that the Hawks traded Murray suggests they still believe Young can be their central figure on the floor and in the locker room. Or it could mean the offers for Young weren’t as enticing as hoped.

Atlanta should be happy that it got Dyson Daniels and two other players for Murray. In tandem with first-round pick Zaccharie Risacher, the Hawks are building a bigger, more defensive-minded cast around Young, which makes sense. But the regrets can come in two forms: Either Young will continue to underperform as a leader and defender, leaving the Hawks no better in their new form than they were in their old one, or Young will be resentful that he was traded and ultimately kept.

I still think the Hawks can be a title contender with the right team around Young and the biggest criticism the last two seasons was that management didn’t put the right pieces around Young. This offseason indicates they are trying to fix that. By drafting Zaccharie Risacher No. 1 and trading Dyson Daniels in the Murray deal, the Hawks made a point of getting bigger and more athletic around Young. Will that translate into more wins? That remains to be seen, but management has taken a better approach to trying to put the right pieces around Young.