Jalen Johnson’s emergence as the Hawks’ top option creates a trade dilemma for Tree Young

It was a lot of hype surrounding the Atlanta Hawks‘ roster enters the 2025-26 NBA season after all the offseason additions they made. With the addition of Kristaps Porzingis, Nikhil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard, the Hawks were winning Jalen Johnson back from a shoulder injury.

Last season, Johnson’s year was shortened to just 36 games due to a torn labrum in left shoulder. Before the injury, Johnson was having an All-Star-like season, averaging 18.9 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor.

Johnson was already considered by many to be an early favorite for the league’s MVP award before he went down with a shoulder injury.

With Johnson emerging as a real threat along with an All-Star point guard Trae YoungThe Hawks entered the new season as a threat to contend at the top of the East. But the Hawks lost three of their first four games, and to make matters worse, Young went down with a sprained MCL in his right knee in the team’s fifth game.

Since then, the Hawks have won nine of their last 13 games, and Johnson has been the catalyst for their success.

The 23-year-old forward is averaging 22.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 56.2 percent from the floor and 41.5 percent from 3-point range. Only Nikola Jokic and Johnson are averaging at least 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists per game on 50-40 shooting this season.

Atlanta knew what Johnson was capable of becoming, and he picked up where he left off last season when he injured his shoulder. Now, with Young sidelined, Johnson is taking the moment to prove he can be the face of this franchise for years to come.

Jaylen Johnson cemented himself as an All-Star, the face of the Hawks

Throughout his young career, Johnson has never been one to put himself above others.

Johnson spent a lot of time on the bench during his first two seasons simply working on his craft, and never said a word about the lack of playing time he was getting or his role. The beginning of his career was just paving the way forward, and we are beginning to see years of hard work it pays off behind the scenes.

“If you don’t rush anything and you trust your process and you really embrace the essence and you don’t just say words about it, but you actually talk about your actions, it’s just a matter of time. You slowly start to see yourself making progress and taking baby steps,” Johnson recently told Marc J. Spears for Andscape. “And the next thing you know, your numbers are getting better. All those things take care of themselves.”

“I know my game. I know the work I’ve put in. I know it’s going to get worse eventually and people are going to start getting recognition.”

Well, the NBA as a whole is certainly paying attention to Johnson and the Hawks, as the young star in the making has cemented himself as one of the league’s top talents.

Looking at just the Eastern Conference, Johnson currently ranks 15th in scoring and seventh in assists, as well as tied for seventh in rebounding. There are only five players in the East more 20-point games than he has this season, as he is tied with few others in the conference with 12 such games.

Johnson is one of 15 players in the NBA this season to record a triple-double, and his nine double-doubles in 16 games are tied for sixth in the league.

With the Hawks currently above the playoffs in the Eastern Conference and Johnson leading the team to wins after Trae Young’s injury, it became clear that he would be a first-time All-Star this season. More importantly, Johnson becomes the face of the franchise.

Johnson has been the Hawks’ star since Young’s injury, and it’s clear Atlanta is building its future around him, Dyson Daniels, Zachary Rizacher and Onyeka Okongwu.

These four young talents form one of the better cores in the entire NBA, but no one is talking about the Hawks and what they have built. Johnson and this group will only continue to improve as the season goes on, which has the Hawks in one of the best spots of any team in the league right now.

The Hawks have won seven of their last nine games, joining the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers as the only teams in the league currently with eight road wins. During this work, Johnson was recently named Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

Despite not having Young, this team found success playing through Johnson and made him their star. He can push the pace, score from the perimeter, punish smaller defenders in the low post and be the primary playmaker for his teammates as point ahead.

For those reasons alone, Johnson has not only earned the right to be an All-Star this season, but also to be named the face of the Hawks. Of course, this leads to big questions about what the future holds for Young in Atlanta.

What’s next for Trea Young?

When Trae Young went down with a knee injury in the Hawks’ fifth game of the season against the Brooklyn Nets, many immediately thought Atlanta would collapse without their leader.

The truth was just the opposite, as Johnson’s emergence as the Hawks’ new leader helped create this team’s identity, which revolves around high-level defense and consistently spreading the ball on offense. That’s why the Hawks currently lead the league in assists per game (30.4).

This has never been a problem for Young, as he is one of the best pass rushers in the league. Just last season, Young led the NBA in assists (11.6), and was always the catalyst for the Hawks’ offensive success.

However, since his injury, head coach Quin Snyder has put a lot of faith in Johnson and Daniels to lead the team. So far, Snyder’s philosophy and belief in his young players have put the Hawks in a position to contend at the top of the Eastern Conference.

Young is still working his way back from a knee injury and will be re-evaluated by the team in late November. If this evaluation goes well and the star quarterback doesn’t suffer any problems over the next few days, he’ll likely enter the next step of his rehab and start working on the field.

That likely puts Young’s timeline around 10-14 days before he’s re-evaluated, so it’s realistic to believe he’ll be back sometime around the mid-December holiday.

While this is good news for the Hawks, given Young’s offensive skills and ability to take pressure off Johnson and Daniels as the main facilitators, do Snyder and the team really want to run away from what has been working?

After all, having the ball in Johnson’s hands allowed him to evolve into a versatile offensive threat and an All-Star in his own right. Once back on the court, Young will no longer be the sole mover of the basketball, and will have to find a way to reintegrate into this group without changing their new style of play.

A lot of noise was made in the off-season around Young’s future with the organization and whether they would potentially want to trade him, especially if contract negotiations go nowhere and both sides are comfortable with the idea of ​​the All-Star finishing his current contract.

The At no point this offseason did the Hawks try to move Youngnor did they feel like Young was unhappy with the way his contract negotiations were handled. Both sides understand the business side of the league, and Young has remained committed to his organization throughout the preseason and into the 2025-26 season.

Still, the idea of ​​trading Young is simply something born outside of Atlanta. This organization values ​​Young, and they remain committed to having him as their point guard this season.

Things are always changing in the NBA for a little money, and that doesn’t mean Young’s ideology won’t be changed before the trade deadline in February, but the franchise is excited to have their main point guard back on the court alongside Johnson, Daniels and others.

Looking ahead to the later stages of this season and well into next summer, it has already become clear that Young’s value to the Hawks has declined. Johnson’s appearance and youth make him an ideal player for this organization to build with for many years, leading to the question of how much the Hawks would be willing to pay Young next summer, as he carries a $48.9 million player option.

Any way you look at it, Atlanta is in a great position. Young’s return to the court in a few weeks feels like a midseason addition to this group, and Johnson will continue his All-Star level play. How this team looks with Young back in the bullpen during January before the trade deadline will tell the story of what Young’s future looks like in Atlanta.