Hawks trade Trae Young to Wizards in first blockbuster deal in 2026?

Trae Youngtime is with Atlanta Hawks the end has come. In what is the first blockbuster trade 2026 Hawks send Young to Washington Wizards in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, league sources told ClutchPoints.

No draft picks were included in this three-player trade that sends the All-Star guard to Washington.

Young, 27, who spent the first eight years of his career in Atlanta, will now embark on a new journey in the nation’s capital amid growing tensions between him and the Hawks. Noise in the environment Young’s eventual departure from the Hawks became louder during the first week of the new year, with the franchise prioritizing its youthful core headlined by Jaylen Johnson and Daniel Daniels.

The The Wizards emerged as Young’s preferred landing spot in a deal before this season’s trade deadline, and the two teams have engaged in advanced discussions about the format of a trade for the two veteran guards. With the Wizards having to add an additional $6.2 million to this trade to make it work financially, Kispert became the final piece of the deal.

Although Kispert missed time this season with a broken right thumb, his 3-point shooting skills were highly valued in trade talks by Atlanta, sources said. He joins the Hawks in the first year of a four-year, $54 million extension he signed with Washington in 2024.

In the offseason leading up to the 2025-26 season, Young, his team and the Hawks never came close to reaching an agreement on the extension of the contract in the long term. Despite being the face of the franchise since being drafted fifth overall in 2018, the Hawks weren’t worried about Young playing out the rest of his contract.

Although the failed negotiations did not sit well with Young and his camp, the All-Star point guard entered the new year with the same mentality he always has: find ways to succeed on the court and win.

Unfortunately for Young, he played in just five games before suffering a sprained MCL in right knee seven minutes into a game against the Brooklyn Nets on Oct. 29. There were initially concerns that Young had suffered a significant knee injury, but MRI results revealed no structural damage, and the team said he would miss at least a month.

It wasn’t until December 18 against the Charlotte Hornets that Young returned to the floor and has been since then battling a right quad contusion that made him sit out six straight games.

Overall, the Hawks went 2-8 in the 10 games Young appeared in, compared to 15-13 without the All-Star point guard this season. In addition, Atlanta’s defense has performed significantly better without Young on the court this season, surrendering an average of roughly nine points less per game based on advanced metrics.

Young and his camp had hoped that three straight seasons with a league-leading double-digit assist average through 2024-25 would result in a lucrative contract extension to keep him a focal point in Atlanta, but the emergence of Daniels as the MVP in 2024-25 and Johnson as a bona fide All-Star candidate this season has changed the Hawks’ trajectory.

The organization also owns the trade for the top draft pick between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2026 NBA Draft, which could go first overall. The Hawks are committed to getting younger and more dynamic on both ends of the floor, which is why trading Young for a veteran like McCollum with an expiring contract offers immediate financial flexibility.

Between McCollum, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kennard, the Hawks now have over $70 million in expiring salary, which currently creates opportunities for the organization to continue to expand its depth and overall potential over the summer.

Young, who holds a $49 million player option for the 2026-27 season, now joins a young, rebuilt Wizards team where he will be the organization’s top offensive option. He will be reunited with Wizards CEO Travis Schlenk, who originally drafted Young in 2018 when he was Atlanta’s head of basketball operations.

Schlenk joined Washington in 2023 as the team’s vice president of player personnel under president Michael Winger.

Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Young has averaged 25.1 points and 10.8 assists per game while shooting 42.3 percent from the floor and 34.7 percent from 3-point range. He is the only player in the league to average at least 24 points and 10 assists in each of the last three seasons.