{"id":570462,"date":"2026-01-30T09:35:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T09:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/570462\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T09:35:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T09:35:35","slug":"hawks-dream-2026-nba-trade-deadline-scenario-after-already-trading-trae-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/570462\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawks\u2019 dream 2026 NBA trade deadline scenario after already trading Trae Young"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hawks\u2019 dream 2026 NBA trade deadline scenario after already trading Trae Young<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Atlanta Hawks<\/a> may be coming off a 104-86 loss to the Houston Rockets on Thursday night, but they are well-positioned to make an aggressive move prior to the trade deadline. With Trae Young now gone<\/a>, the Hawks have considerable cap space moving forward to fit in a game-changing star that can help take this team to the next level.<\/p>\n

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At present, the Hawks are still a middling team, still finding its day-to-day identity in the aftermath of trading the star point guard who led the team from 2018 to 2025. The pieces they have in place indicate that they are leaning towards a defense-first identity, and having a superstar who can excel on both ends of the floor is a must. Young simply could not be that guy due to his deficiencies on defense.<\/p>\n

And the good news for the Hawks is that they have the draft assets<\/a>, the young players, and the rising stars that any team would want in a potential trade for a superstar talent. There\u2019s no surprise that the Hawks have been mentioned as one of the likeliest destinations for Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> now that the Milwaukee Bucks, as per reports, have become more open to trading their superstar more than ever.<\/p>\n

It always takes talent to acquire talent, which means that the Hawks have to accept<\/a> that they will have to part ways with a few of their best assets if they were to bring in Antetokounmpo or a player of a similar caliber. However, even Atlanta has to recognize that there are some risks that come with acquiring the Greek Freak.<\/p>\n

Hawks\u2019 dream trade deadline: Acquire Giannis without giving up Jalen Johnson\"Jordan<\/p>\n

Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

A superstar of Antetokounmpo\u2019s caliber, a 30-point, 10-rebound a night freak of nature who\u2019s unstoppable in the paint and has improved his midrange game exponentially, rarely becomes available on the trade market. Luka Doncic is an exception<\/a>. Traded almost a year ago to this date, the Dallas Mavericks shopped Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers without even drumming up league-wide interest. The Bucks are not making the same mistake.<\/p>\n

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Antetokounmpo will presumably enter free agency at the end of the 2026-27 season, which means that any team that wants to acquire him runs the risk of seeing him walk if they don\u2019t meet his expectations. The Hawks don\u2019t reside in the most glamorous market in the world, and Atlanta isn\u2019t among one of his preferred trade destinations<\/a>, the three of which being the Miami Heat, New York Knicks, and Toronto Raptors, at least according to reports.<\/p>\n

But in terms of team fit, the Hawks won\u2019t ever find a better superstar to lead the way for them than Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo thrives when he\u2019s on a team with many athletic defenders, and the Hawks\u2019 strength certainly lies in having many rangy wings or guards that can cover so much ground.<\/p>\n

Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Dyson Daniels are a fierce defensive pairing in the backcourt; they may be no prime Jrue Holiday in hounding the ballhandler, but they do the job incredibly well nonetheless. Alexander-Walker\u2019s emergence on the offensive end as well makes him a rather high-level guard to fit alongside Antetokounmpo, as he has shown a better capability of handling a huge scoring workload.<\/p>\n

Onyeka Okongwu has become quite the stretch five, making two threes a ballgame on 36.4 percent shooting \u2014 a more than acceptable number for a starting center. Antetokounmpo thrives alongside a center who can shoot, and Okongwu is a solid fit to pair with him on the frontcourt.<\/p>\n

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But no Antetokounmpo trade would be worth it for the Hawks if it meant that they\u2019d give up Jalen Johnson<\/a> in the process.<\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s blossomed into one of the best all-around players<\/a> in the NBA, and he\u2019s destined to make his first All-Star Game in a few weeks. He\u2019s currently averaging 22.9 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game, and he still impacts the game even when he\u2019s not scoring the rock simply by being an athletic presence who has excellent court vision and much-improved ballhandling skills.<\/p>\n

Only 24 years of age, the sky is the limit for Johnson. But he\u2019s been the Hawks\u2019 1A guy this season and they\u2019ve struggled to climb the .500 mark, which means that being the number one option may not be the best for him and his team with regards to playing winning basketball. He\u2019s much more of a supporting player, a second option, on an elite team.<\/p>\n

Trading him away for Antetokounmpo may give them a short-term boost, but it kind of defeats the purpose of bringing in Giannis if it meant that they\u2019d be down one of the best forwards in the league to flank him.<\/p>\n

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Having Antetokounmpo on the roster would make life so much easier for Johnson; for starters, opponents will be devoting more defensive attention to Giannis, freeing up Johnson to take on a smaller defender. He can either overpower those smaller defenders, or if they decide to put a slower guy on him, he has more than enough foot speed and leaping ability to be a headache.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the matter of Johnson\u2019s defensive impact shining yet again. The increased offensive burden on his shoulders has rendered him more of a passenger on that end of the court, but he has the athletic tools to be a much more disruptive and steady defensive contributor than he\u2019s been this season. Not everyone can be LeBron James \u2014 a do-it-all forward who was a DPOY-caliber defender at one point \u2014 and that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n

The Hawks should be much more inclined to trade away the New Orleans Pelicans\u2019 unprotected first-round pick in 2026 if it comes to that; as tantalizing as Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, and Cameron Boozer may be, none of them are as sure of a thing as a 24-year-old Johnson is at present.<\/p>\n

A package built around Kristaps Porzingis\u2019 expiring contract<\/a>, Zaccharie Risacher, Luke Kennard, the unprotected Pelicans pick, and all the other draft assets the Bucks may demand should be as far as the Hawks go. Trading away CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert would also have been acceptable, but there currently are trade restrictions preventing Atlanta from aggregating those players with other contracts to bring in someone making more money.<\/p>\n

Related: Hawks\u2019 Quin Snyder points at \u2018substantial\u2019 absence as factor in Rockets loss<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Alperen Sengun, Jalen Johnson land on NBA injury report with Rockets, Hawks on back-to-backs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hawks\u2019 dream 2026 NBA trade deadline scenario after already trading Trae Young appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,7,7046,6339,149,206,123,677,194,2990,2038,871,185,150,368,1171,189,121,6,470,191,379,493,476,409,494,1246],"class_list":{"0":"post-570462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-hawks","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-atlantahawks","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-cj-mccollum","13":"tag-corey-kispert","14":"tag-dallas-mavericks","15":"tag-dyson-daniels","16":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","17":"tag-hawks","18":"tag-houston-rockets","19":"tag-jalen-johnson","20":"tag-jrue-holiday","21":"tag-kristaps-porzingis","22":"tag-lebron-james","23":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","24":"tag-luka-doncic","25":"tag-luke-kennard","26":"tag-miami-heat","27":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","28":"tag-nba","29":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","30":"tag-new-york-knicks","31":"tag-nickeil-alexander-walker","32":"tag-onyeka-okongwu","33":"tag-toronto-raptors","34":"tag-trade","35":"tag-trae-young","36":"tag-zaccharie-risacher"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570462","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=570462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}