4 realistic trades for disgruntled star Karl-Anthony Towns
By Alec Liebsch
Atlanta Hawks
The end of last season saw Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks make themselves known. After the All-Star break, Young averaged 24.7 points and 9.2 assists on a decent slash line of .442/.348/.878. The beginning of his rookie season was tough, but he seemed to have figured it out towards the end.
Well, despite his gaudy numbers once again this season, the Hawks are still bad. Young is up to 28.5 points per game while dishing out 8.3 assists on average, but Atlanta is 7-27 and in pole position to keep the worst record in the league all season.
(Chandler Parsons‘ salary also goes to Minnesota to make the money work.)
A Karl-Anthony Towns trade would most certainly change the team’s fortunes. The Hawks have done a solid job getting previous non-shooters like Alex Len and John Collins to let it fly, something Towns is already great at. He would fit right in at all levels, and the Hawks would have another scorer to take the load off of Young.
A lineup of Young, Kevin Huerter, De’Andre Hunter, Collins and Towns is young, uber-talented and a lot of fun. There’s legitimate shooting at all five positions, Collins’ threat as a lob-catcher is even more pronounced with more space and the Young-Towns pick-and-whatever duo would terrorize defenses.
Minnesota hits full reset in this mock trade, getting three firsts and rookie big Bruno Fernando. Fernando has work to do to become a rotation center in the NBA, but he’s signed for dirt-cheap through the 2021-22 season.