Trae Young Gives Farewell Daps To Teammates After Midgame Trade

The Trae Young era of the Atlanta Hawks is over after the team traded the All-Star point guard to the Washington Wizards. The trade lands veteran guard CJ McCollum and 3-point specialist Cory Kispert with the Hawks, with Trae Young bringing his long-range shooting and playmaking abilities to the Wizards.

ESPN was among the first outlets to report on rumblings of the trade, which was officially confirmed Wednesday evening (January 7). Trae Young, 27, reportedly wanted to come to Washington to reignite his career after his time with the Hawks began to show cracks, and with their younger core gelling.

Washington is undergoing a long rebuild and has one of the league’s younger teams, with Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr, and veteran Khris Middleton in the starting lineup. Young will be the starter at the 1 spot.

The Hawks are going all in with young stars Jalen Johsnon, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. With Young leaving the team, it gets his salary off the books, and they inherited another expiring contract in McCollum. That will allow the team flexibility to re-sign big man Kristaps Porzingis and pursue any other big splash they seek this coming season and next.

The Wizards drafted University of Texas star Tre Johnson, who has shown promise. Dubbed the WizKids, the younger core, which includes point guard Bub Carrington, might still be far off, but has shown particular grit of late. McCollum also praised the Wizards and their front office staff in a recent interview with the Club 520 podcast.

The trade’s timing was anything but normal as the news broke when the Hawks were playing the New Orleans Pelicans. Young, dressed in street clothes, promptly rose from his seat, dapped up some teammates and headed on down the tunnel for the last time as a member of the Atlanta Hawks.

Even weirder? Reports suggest that the Wizards don’t plan to play Young much this season, as he continues to heal the right quadriceps sprain he suffered in December. The hope is he’ll have fresh legs come the 2026-27, and he’ll be paired with whichever college star Washington uses its Top-8 protected pick on.

See social media’s reaction to the trade below.