Hawks must pick lane and trade Trae Young or keep building

Three years ago, you could make a case that the Hawks were on the same level as the Bucks. I didn’t make that case, mind you, but others did after the Hawks lost the Eastern Conference finals to the eventual champs in six games. To get there, the Hawks went through two higher-seeded teams, the Knicks and the 76ers.

The Bucks are championship contenders still. The Sixers and Knicks are chasing them. But the Hawks haven’t won a playoff series since that 2021 run. They’ve been leapfrogged in the East by the Cavaliers, Magic and Pacers. And now the Hawks figure to take another step back in 2024-25.

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That would be fine if the Hawks weren’t dealing in half-measures. General manager Landry Fields is going to have to pick a lane. Swing trades for high-level players who complement Trae Young, or trade Young and start over in earnest.

Right now, the Hawks are walking between those two paths.

The Hawks last week traded their second-best player, Dejounte Murray, and did not get a comparable player in return. They used the No. 1 draft pick on a 19-year-old prospect who needs time to learn the NBA. The Hawks are not major players in free agency.

They are in retreat, but it’s not a full-blown rebuild because Trae Young is still on the team. It’s not the worst Hawks roster of the Young era. It will be the worst one since they stopped tanking. Fields needs either to make it better or go full tank mode by sending away Young for draft picks and young players.

I believe the Hawks should keep building with Young. I’d understand it if they decided to tear it down. Straddling those two options wouldn’t make sense. Fields plausibly can go either route.

Young surely has trade value despite his relatively small stature. Contending teams built around big wings or skilled big men still need good point guards. Young is unique among them. He’s an efficient 20-point scorer and 10-assist passer.

Young also is signed for the next two seasons, with a player option for a third. The price is high: $43 million in 2024-25, $46 million in 25-26. But Young’s contract is worth it for a good team that has size and defense but needs more scoring and playmaking.

Maybe I’m wrong about Young’s trade value. If so, then the Hawks are better off keeping him and trying to make a move in the East. It wouldn’t make sense to stand pat with this roster. That’s better than the alternative of keeping the Young-Murray duo together when it wasn’t working, but just barely.

Trades are the realistic means for Fields to improve the team. He can forget about using the mid-level exception to sign a free agent with a starting salary of $13 million. The Hawks followed the big trade for Murray with cost-cutting moves to avoid the luxury tax. Team owner Tony Ressler surely won’t pay it now that Murray is gone.

According to ESPN salary-cap expert Bobby Marks, the Hawks’ payroll is about $5.5 million below the tax threshold. The Hawks will offer veteran free agents the league minimum or slightly more. That’s not going to get them good players who will help shore their weaknesses: rim protection, playmaking and shooting.

Trading Murray helped the Hawks get below the tax line. The package they got in return was pretty good: Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance Jr., E.J. Liddell and two first-round draft picks. Trading AJ Griffin also alleviated the tax crunch. The Hawks got a paltry return for the No. 16 pick in the 2022 draft: the No. 43 pick this year, which they used to acquire Nikola Djurisic.

With Murray gone, the Hawks are a younger team with less talent. They are headed for the draft lottery with no reward for being bad. The Spurs own their 2025 first-round pick. The 2025 pick the Hawks got from the Pelicans is via the Lakers.

The Hawks won 36 games last season, when Young was on the injured list for six weeks. If they are going to be mediocre again, then it’s better to do so while holding a first-round pick in what figures to be a deeper 2025 draft. If the Hawks are going nowhere now, then it’s better to increase the chances of going somewhere later by giving young players major minutes.

But the Hawks need to get full value from Young. That means assembling a roster good enough for him to lead them back to the playoffs. If not that, then it means trading Young for the building blocks of the next Hawks era.

Getting the most out of Young doesn’t mean sending out a mediocre team that’s short on good, veteran players. That half-measure would do the Hawks no good. Pick a lane: retool or rebuild.