{"id":526643,"date":"2026-01-09T06:22:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T06:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/526643\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T06:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T06:22:17","slug":"is-anthony-davis-next-after-blockbuster-hawks-wizards-trae-young-swap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/526643\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Anthony Davis next after blockbuster Hawks-Wizards Trae Young swap?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Hawks played the Pelicans on Wednesday, Trae Young, wearing street clothes, started dapping up\u00a0his teammates and assistant coaches.<\/p>\n

He had just found out he had been traded to the Wizards in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, meaning the world got to see his reaction in real time. It\u2019s a strange phenomenon that sometimes occurs during trade season, when news lands while a camera is affixed on its subject\u2019s face, or, as I like to call it, a solar eclipse for NBA fans.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Atlanta Hawks traded Trae Young to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Luckily for Young and\u00a0the local TV broadcast, the point guard was very much on board with this move, which marked the first domino of the 2026 trade season. (As a fun thought exercise, imagine if cameras had caught Luka Doncic\u2019s\u00a0and\u00a0Anthony Davis\u2019 reactions last Feb. when the most shocking trade in sports history landed. Here\u2019s to guessing that moment wouldn\u2019t have been TV-friendly. But more on Davis in a bit.)<\/p>\n

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For Young and the Hawks, the divorce was inevitable, with all parties realizing it was time to move on.<\/p>\n

\"Trae<\/p>\n

Trae Young was picked by the Atlanta Hawks in 2018. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Young was the centerpiece of the Hawks\u2019 organization the last seven-plus years. When Young led the Hawks to two wins away from the Finals in 2021, trading him for McCollum and Kispert would\u2019ve seemed unthinkable.<\/p>\n

But a lot has happened since, including things souring for both parties\u00a0when they failed to agree on a contract extension last summer. Meanwhile, the Hawks have failed to get past the first round of the playoffs the last four years (including missing the postseason altogether the last two seasons).<\/p>\n

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As\u00a0for this season, the Hawks went 2-8 in the 10 contests in which Young played. (Young suffered a right MCL sprain in Oct. and he missed the Hawks\u2019 last six games because of a right quad contusion.)<\/p>\n

Young chose Washington as his preferred trade destination and the Wizards would\u2019ve been remiss to not gamble on the 27-year-old, four-time All-Star, who could have a lot of upside alongside their young talent amid their rebuild.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, for the Hawks, jettisoning\u00a0Young (who has $95 million remaining on his deal through the 2026-27 season) means they no longer have to be weighed down by his $49 million player option this offseason \u2014 and they now have a lot of financial flexibility.<\/p>\n

So, the Wizards got a guy with star power. As for the Hawks? In addition to McCollum\u2019s veteran leadership and Kispert\u2019s catch-and-shoot skills, they now have a chance to take a big swing.<\/p>\n

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And it\u2019s no secret Davis is their prime target.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas Mavericks star Anthony Davis could be on the trading block this season. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Mavericks are exploring trade options for Davis nearly a year after the shocking deal that sent Doncic to the Lakers in exchange for the big man.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks want to build around their No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg. Davis wants a contract extension, ideally a four-year, $275 million deal, whether it\u2019s with the Mavericks \u2014 or elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Dallas has so far balked at an extension after Davis suffered a string of recent injuries, including\u00a0a left adductor strain in his debut with the Mavericks last season on Feb. 8, as well as groin and calf injuries this season.<\/p>\n

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As the trade deadline approaches, Atlanta, Toronto and Golden State have all emerged\u00a0as potential destinations for Davis. But Golden State appears unlikely to make the blockbuster move considering they\u2019re opposed to trading Jimmy Butler ($54.1 million) and Draymond Green ($25.8 million) \u2014 and Steph Curry ($59.6 million) is completely off the table.<\/p>\n

So, watch out for the Hawks over the next month, who entered this season with high expectations in the wide open Eastern Conference, but have skidded to a record of 18-21.<\/p>\n

The first domino has fallen \u2014 and it could lead to a cascade soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Hawks played the Pelicans on Wednesday, Trae Young, wearing street clothes, started dapping up\u00a0his teammates and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[495,676,208,3874,7,7046,225,6339,200,479,677,313,300,368,166,6,675,932,680,10453,494,683],"class_list":{"0":"post-526643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-hawks","8":"tag-anthony-davis","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-hawks","11":"tag-atlantahawks","12":"tag-basketball","13":"tag-cj-mccollum","14":"tag-cooper-flagg","15":"tag-corey-kispert","16":"tag-draymond-green","17":"tag-golden-state","18":"tag-hawks","19":"tag-jimmy-butler","20":"tag-lakers","21":"tag-luka-doncic","22":"tag-mavericks","23":"tag-nba","24":"tag-pelicans","25":"tag-steph-curry","26":"tag-toronto","27":"tag-trade-season","28":"tag-trae-young","29":"tag-wizards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115863705750281571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}