The first trade of 2026 NBA trade season was a big one! The Atlanta Hawks are trading star guard Trae Young to the Washington Wizards in exchange for C.J. McCollum and Corey Kispert. Despite some reporting that draft picks may be involved, there are no picks involved in this trade.

Here are the particulars:

Atlanta Hawks acquire: Corey Kispert, C.J. McCollum

Washington Wizards acquire: Trae Young

Let’s dive in!

Atlanta Hawks

Incoming salary: $44.6 million in 2025-26


Corey Kispert (SF/SG, four years, $54.1 million (final season team option), C.J. McCollum (PG/SG, one year, $30.6 million)

Outgoing salary: $45.9 million in 2025-26


Trae Young (PG, two years, $94.9 million (final season player option)

The Hawks are resetting their franchise in a major way. After seven-and-a-half years together, Atlanta and Trae Young are headed their separate ways. This move was signaled as far back as last summer when the Hawks didn’t engage in extension talks with Young. That was the first sign that Atlanta was ready to move on from the four-time All-Star point guard.

After playing much of the season without Young – and being more successful without him than with him – the Hawks became comfortable with trading their floor leader. Nickeil Alexander-Walker has stepped into the rotation and done well as a starter. The playmaking duties have been handled well by Jalen Johnson, as well as Alexander-Walker and Dyson Daniels.

On the court, C.J. McCollum will give the Hawks quality guard play for the remainder of this season, at least. The veteran combo guard is averaging 18.8 points on 45/39/80 shooting splits. That production will be a boon to an Atlanta offense that has gotten sideways at points this season. It’s unclear at this early of a stage if McCollum will start or come off the bench, but he’ll team with Daniels and Alexander-Walker to form a potent three-guard rotation either way.

Kispert will also be a helpful player for the Hawks. Atlanta has relied on Vit Krejci for the bulk of their bench scoring this season. Kispert is a good shooter, and better than you think at putting the ball on the floor to create offense for himself or others. He’s more than a throw-in to make this deal work. Kispert will play a real role for the Hawks.

Off the court, the presence of McCollum and Kispert will free Atlanta up to do some more movement ahead of next month’s trade deadline. Luke Kennard and his expiring $11M salary will be available now. If the Hawks are serious about getting involved in the Anthony Davis trade derby, then expect Kennard to be in that deal, along with Kristaps Porzingis’ expiring $30.7 million salary. Whether Atlanta is willing to include Zaccharie Risacher may be what determines if they land Davis or not.

Looking beyond this season, the Hawks have tremendous financial flexibility with Young off the books. McCollum’s deal expires after the season and Kispert makes less than the Non-Taxpayer MLE. Conservatively, the Hawks should have somewhere in the range of $25 to $30 million in cap space this summer. That would mean renouncing McCollum, Porzingis and Kennard, but that figure does include a high lottery pick via the New Orleans Pelicans.

In the cap-space scenario above, Atlanta would have 11 players on the roster. That’s $25 to $30 million to spend, plus the projected $9.4 million Room Exception, to fill four roster spots. That’s a pretty good spot to be in for the Hawks this summer.

Of course, Atlanta could always choose to re-sign Porzingis or McCollum, if they play well enough. That would eat into whatever spending power the Hawks have. But the goal was to create flexibility and Onsi Saleh and his staff have done that.

Lastly, Atlanta did well to not have to include a pick to move off Young’s contract. Early reports were that the Wizards were looking for a pick to take on Young’s deal. The Hawks still have everything they had before agreeing to this deal, and that’ll be big for filling out the roster.

Washington Wizards

Incoming salary: $46.4 million in 2025-26


Trae Young (PG, two years, $95.4 million (final season player option)

Outgoing salary: $44.6 million in 2025-26


Corey Kispert (SF/SG, four years, $54.1 million (final season team option), C.J. McCollum (PG/SG, one year, $30.6 million)

The Wizards have hit the phase of their rebuild where they’re ready to take some big swings. Acquiring Trae Young is a big swing, but it’s one without a whole lot of risk attached.

Players of Young’s caliber aren’t available all the time. And when they are, they usually cost more than an expiring contract and a role player. That’s true even when Young’s contract is teetering somewhere between neutral and slightly-negative value.

Let’s start there. For this current season, this trade changes very little cap-wise for the Wizards. They’re still miles from the luxury tax even after taking in a bit more salary. (Note: Trae Young has a trade bonus in his deal, but it would only increase his contract by about $400K, up to his max for this season. We’ve included that bonus, as there no reason for Young to waive it to complete this deal.)

This summer, this doesn’t change a lot for Washington either. The Wizards roster is stuffed full of players who are on their rookie scale contracts. They were set to have over $80 million in cap space this summer. That was to fill three roster spots. With other teams poised to have cap space, it was going to be at least somewhat hard for Washington to use up that space simply by eating bad contracts from other teams.

For just over half of that available space, the Wizards landed a 27-year-old four-time All-Star. And they did it while filling a position of major need. Washington should still have over $45 million in cap space this summer, assuming Young opts in for next season. That’s more than enough to do anything else the Wizards want to do this coming offseason.

Long-term, the Wizards and Young will have to find middle ground on a new deal. That could come via Young extending, opting out this summer and re-signing, or playing out his deal to free agency in 2027. No matter how it goes, expect both sides to already have engaged in conversations around what it will take to keep Young in Washington for years to come.

On the court, McCollum was productive for Washington, but he’s not really a point guard. Young is one of the best playmakers in the NBA. His passing ability will make life easier on his new, young teammates. Look for the game to get easier for players like Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson and Bilal Coulibaly. That should lead to increased efficiency for those players.

Young has struggled with his shot this season, but that’s come over just 10 games. That’s too small of a sample size to believe anything is permanently broken for the long-range shooter.

By moving Kispert, who Washington loved as a wing option and in their locker room, the Wizards also cleaned up somewhat of a logjam on the wing. The runway is clear for George, Johnson, Coulibaly, as well as rookies Will Riley and Jamir Watkins. Those players need all the developmental minutes that they can earn.

It may seem like a minor thing, but the Wizards also opened up a roster spot in this trade. They’ve played reserve big man Tristan Vukcevic a lot this season, and his NBA eligibility as a two-way player was dwindling. Washington can now use that roster spot to sign Vukcevic to a standard contract, possibly by using some of the Non-Taxpayer MLE to give him a long-term deal.

We should also expect Washington to remain active leading up to the trade deadline, Khris Middleton isn’t a long-term player for the Wizards. Don’t be surprised if they move Middleton in a deal where they take on a contract or two that stretch into next season. That move will probably bring the team some future draft capital. If they can’t find a trade for Middleton, the Wizards could buy him out to allow the veteran to catch on with a playoff team. At the very least, Middleton’s contract expires after the season.

Not getting a pick to take on Young’s contract is a minor downside to this deal for Washington. However, they landed an outstanding offensive engine at a position of need. Instead of a homerun, we’ll call this a standup triple. Really good work by the Wizards front office to opportunistically grab a player they probably couldn’t have landed otherwise.