WASHINGTON — Trae Young’s tan suit nearly matched the color of the uniforms worn by the Washington Wizards on Friday night at Capital One Arena.

And while the four-time NBA All-Star couldn’t take the court to help his new team just yet, the home fans showed their appreciation just the same for his presence in the District of Columbia

Young, who was in street clothes on the bench. was introduced to the crowd with a video during the first quarter of Washington’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans. Earlier in the day, the trade that sent the high-scoring, 6-foot-2, 164-pound guard from the Atlanta Hawks to the Wizards became official, and now Young can look forward to a fresh start to his career amid his eighth pro season.

“For me, D.C. is overlooked as far as a big market,” Young said. “In the NBA, I feel like this is a big market, and I just feel like I’m going to be able to come into an opportunity to be myself.”

The first big question is when Young will play again. He missed Friday night’s game with knee and quadriceps injuries and hasn’t appeared in a game since Dec. 27. News of the impending trade broke Wednesday night.

Big market or not, the Wizards lost 64 games last season and 67 in the 2023-24 campaign. They were 3-20 in mid-December, but they had won seven of their past 13 games entering Friday, when the Pelicans came out on top, 128-107, to snap a nine-game losing streak.

Washington has plenty of young players, and the development of second-year big man Alex Sarr has been encouraging, but the Wizards could use a true point guard to play alongside the likes of Bub Carrington, Bilal Coulibaly, Tre Johnson and Kyshawn George, all of whom are from 6-4 to 6-8 in height and younger than 23.

Enter the 27-year-old Young, who has per-game averages of 25.2 points and 9.8 assists for his NBA career. After the Wizards spent two seasons bottoming out, his arrival gives Washington fans a star they can pin their hopes on. General manager Will Dawkins suggested the move won’t alter the patience the team has shown with its less experienced players.

“As an organization, we have a long-term plan, and we’re not going to do anything to deviate from that,” Dawkins said. “I think Trae fits into what we’re trying to do based on the development of a lot of the younger players.”

Washington could lose its first-round pick in the NBA draft this year if it falls outside the top eight in the final standings, but aside from that, there was little obvious downside to bringing in a player like Young, especially after the Wizards gave up no draft choices in the trade. Washington sent guard CJ McCollum, who coincidentally has the same birthday as Young but is seven years older, to Atlanta along with reserve forward Corey Kispert.

Young, the No. 5 pick of the 2018 draft after starring at the University of Oklahoma as the leading scorer in NCAA Division I men’s basketball during his final season, has a player option for close to $49 million for next season.

“When you have a four-time All-Star, All-NBA player available, who wants to come to D.C. and help make it what we want it to be, it was an easy partnership and an easy decision,” Dawkins said.

Although he led the Hawks to the Eastern Conference title series in 2021, Atlanta hasn’t even made the playoffs the past two seasons, and the light return for Young indicates where his stock was when the deal was made.

McCollum averaged 18.8 points in 35 games with Washington this season and has averaged 19.6 for his pro career. The Hawks will become his fourth NBA team; he also played for the Portland Trail Blazers and New Orleans.

Kispert has been a backup for the bulk of his five NBA seasons, all with Washington. He has averaged 10.9 points for his pro career while shooting 38% from 3-point range.

“On behalf of the Hawks franchise, I’d like to thank Trae for how he embraced the city of Atlanta and represented the Hawks during his time here, on the court and in the community,” Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh said in a released statement. “Over more than seven seasons, including four All-Star appearances, he cemented himself as a fan favorite and one of the great players in our franchise’s history. We wish Trae and his family all the best.”

He left Atlanta as the Hawks’ career leader in assists (having passed Doc Rivers) and 3-pointers (having passed Mookie Blaylock). He’s fourth on Atlanta’s free throws list and sixth in points.

The next step for Young is to try to add to Washington’s recent history of dynamic point guards. After years with John Wall leading the way, the Wizards had Russell Westbrook for one remarkable season in which he averaged a triple-double and led Washington to its most recent playoff berth.

However, that was back in 2020-21, the same season the Hawks peaked with Young. He was in only his third year as a pro then.

“It happened faster than I expected in my last place,” Young said, suggesting the Wizards could be capable of a similar rise.