Anthony Davis trade Hawks must make after sending Tree Young to Wizards

The The Atlanta Hawks fan base is in collective sports mourning as we witnessed one yesterday evening: Trae Young was traded from the team Washington Wizards for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert.

Young has been the driving force behind the Hawks organization since being drafted in 2018, leading the franchise to the closest it has ever been to the NBA Finals since the team arrived in Atlanta. The Hawks with Young were a team full of opportunity and potential that was not fully realized due to injuries to both Young and his teammates, as well as a poor roster several years after the 2021 playoffs.

Between the notion of a strict CBA agreement that penalizes NBA players for making too much money (and the teams that try to pay them) and the dawn of an NBA positionless era that seems a little premature, Onsi Saleh and the front office decided it was best to move on from Young and build around skill and size with the team’s Jalen Johnson at the helm.

Many Hawks fans are desperate. They don’t know what’s next or if the team will ever reach the championship potential that Trae Young brought to the organization in the playoffs in 2021. While the trade of picks between the Bucks and the Pelicans is a vital asset and could turn into a number one pick, the future is still unknown. With this summer’s free agent class not as strong and a lack of real trades in the NBA due to new financial rules, many Hawks fans are wondering what the next move is for this team.

It’s clear that if Young is traded, Saleh is ready to make a big move. We’ve known that current Mavericks power forward for weeks now Anthony Davis is affiliated with the Hawks. Saleh appears committed to building a team around Jaylen Johnson that emphasizes size and defense, in line with other NBA contenders such as the Thunder, Spurs and even the Knicks.

If this is the decision Saleh made, there’s no doubt he’ll make a trade for Davis. It’s the only thing that makes sense: shedding Young’s salary and creating another place where he can get a star that fits the philosophy of the team he wants to build. It would be a huge setback if the Hawks leave the deadline and Anthony Davis is not in Atlanta.

Many Hawks fans are nervous about Davis’ durability and whether he’ll be able to stay healthy to be the defensive anchor and frontcourt star we saw both with the Pelicans when he first entered the league and at the championship level with the Lakers before being traded to the Mavericks last February.

But at this point, acquiring Davis is a risk you have to take, and I’m buying the future Jaylen Johnson is willing to provide. You have to surround Johnson with Hall of Fame talent in Davis that Young never got to play with during his eight years in Atlanta.

You have to lose to win again

Because of this, you have to tear off the patch. You have to make a trade that could confuse the fan base even more, but if it works out, it could really put you in championship contention and in the mix as the best team in the NBA. I worked on the FansPo trading machine, and I came up with this trade:

In my business, Kristaps Porzinis and his expiring contract go to the Mavericks along with Zachary Rizacher, a 2026 first-round pick swap between San Antonio, Cleveland, Minnesota and Utah, and a 2027 pick swap between New Orleans and Milwaukee.

In exchange, the Hawks get Anthony Davis, an expiring contract in Dante Exum, and another expiring contract in Brandon Williams. Exum and Williams were brought in to make sure the financial math worked out, and Exum could prove to be a skilled guard with the size and skill to play in Quin Snyder’s offense for the remainder of his contract.

I understand that Hawks fans and even the Hawks front office don’t want to trade Rizaher. I understand that it’s only been one full season that he’s been an Atlanta Hawk, and the fans are seeing what he could be if Snyder and the coaching staff completely cut him loose.

But it doesn’t make much sense when you’re trading your franchise player with the sole intention of increasing cap space because you don’t want to pay for the money he’s earned, given the sample size of games he’s been unable to participate in due to injury management minute restrictions. You have to make a big, bold move to maintain continuity and give Hawks fans something to look forward to and hope for.

If things go well enough, you now have Anthony Davis locked up and can extend him. You still have a 2026 Pelicans-Bucks trade available that could put you in position to land a blue-chip prospect like AJ Dibantsa, Darrin Peterson, Cameron Boozer or Caleb Wilson. This allows you to build on the stars you have on the roster now, while bringing in players who fit the Hawks’ timeline and can grow with Jalen Johnson as he enters his prime.

This is a trade the Hawks must make because if the trade deadline comes and nothing happens, many fans will lose faith. With the way the NBA trade season is going, especially in the final hours approaching the deadline, who’s to say that a player like Davis won’t be acquired by the Raptors, who are looking to bring in a contender this year, or the Pistons, who sit atop the Eastern Conference and believe they have a team that can challenge the Thunder or any team in the West?

Nothing makes sense for the Atlanta Hawks right now. Onsi Saleh and the front office need to believe in the vision and go all in on building a meaningful, defensive team centered around a rising young star in Jalen Johnson who can elevate their floor and put them in contention for the next few seasons.