Former executive points to ‘elephant in the room’ after Hawks’ Dejoute Murray trade

The Atlanta Hawks did well to flip Dejounte Murray, who was awkward as a 2-guard, especially next to a defensive target in Trae Young, for pieces that, at least on paper, fit the latter better.

Larry Nance offers great versatility at the front of the court, with 3-5 experience. Dyson Daniels is a terrific defender, at least at this point.

The Hawks also got salary cap relief and recruiting capital to build the roster. But are other things happening?

“It’s the elephant in the room. No discussion of Atlanta’s predicament is complete without bringing up the nuclear option: trading Young to San Antonio and getting those picks back, which would allow Atlanta to move forward with a sincere reset of tanking around Risacher, Johnson and Daniels,” wrote John Hollinger of The Athletic on June 28 (subscription required).

Young has three seasons and $138 million remaining on his five-year, $215.1 million contract. He also has a $48.9 million player option for the 2026-27 season.

The three-time All-Star hasn’t publicly pushed for a trade. Instead, he’s said the opposite, that he wants to stay, leaving it up to management to decide whether they want to fight now or later.

However, his name appeared in trade rumors before the February deadline.

Dejounte Murray was the Hawks’ most important player. But Young’s name surfaced as teams felt he might be available this offseason.

However, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski suggested that the The market for both players played a role Murray begins a four-year, $114 million contract that caps at $31.3 million even after his trade, though he also has an option for 2026-27.

This could mean the Hawks’ trade options for Young are indeed limited.

Hollinger sees the San Antonio Spurs as the “only plausible trade destination” for Young given they control the Hawks’ first-round picks through 2028 following the trade to acquire Murray in 2022.

“Conveniently, San Antonio also desperately needs an elite point guard and could easily package non-essential salaries (Devonte’ Graham, Zach Collins and Tre Jones) to match Young’s $43 million salary,” wrote Hollinger. “The fact that the Spurs just pushed Graham’s guarantee date back to July 8 is at least sobering.”

Using the outline of Hollinger, who spent eight years in the Memphis Grizzlies front office, this trade proposal from Soaring Down South could get the job done.

Collins, 26, averaged 11.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists last season. The 6-foot-2 former No. 10 overall pick (2017) also plays with an edge the Hawks have lacked in recent years.

He begins a two-year, $34.8 million contract with a cap hit of $16.7 million in 2024-25 and $18 million in 2025-26.

Graham, 29, averaged 5.0 points, 2.0 assists and 1.6 rebounds last season.

He’s rather small. And while he’s a career 35.4% shooter from beyond the arc, he hasn’t even shot that well since 2020-21. Graham is heading into the final year of a four-year, $47.3 million pact with a $12.6 million cap hit in 2024-25.

Jones, 24, is the brother of Washington Wizards point guard Tyus Jones. A former second-round pick, he has averaged double-digit points over the past two seasons.

He averaged 10.0 points, 6.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals.

Jones is entering the final year of a two-year, $19 million contract and carries a $9 million cap hit for the upcoming season. After logging a career-high 77 appearances in 2023-24, Jones lacks Young’s preternatural passing ability. But he can lead an effective attack.

The Spurs might be reluctant to give up control of the Hawks’ 2025 first-round pick ahead of what would be a tanking effort from the Hawks with a loaded draft class coming up next year.

The above proposal would save more than $4.5 million on the Hawks’ books in 2024-25.

It would also give them an even more uncertain future with a head coach in Quin Snyder who was hired to win. But he also has a contract that runs through 2027 and could be okay with the extended approach.

Zaccharie Risacher and Jalen Johnson could be poised to start the 2024-25 season as the Hawks’ new core.