The wild 2025 NBA trade deadline is now in the books, and it was a doozy. A record 65 players were traded in the lead-up to the deadline, including some shocking names. Luka Doncic was shipped to the Los Angeles Lakers in a puzzling blockbuster.
De'Aaron Fox was shipped to the San Antonio Spurs, Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings, and Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors. While there were several stars that were traded, there were several more that could be dealt this summer.
NBA Trades 4) Trae Young
After getting off to a solid start during the 2024-25 season, the Atlanta Hawks now find themselves in an unenviable position. They don't own their picks in 2025, 2026, and 2027 thanks to the disastrous Dejounte Murray trade.
That trade was meant to give superstar Trae Young a co-star to help their team compete, but after just one season, they traded him to the New Orleans Pelicans. The deal went significantly better for them with them landing two first-round picks and rising star Dyson Daniels.
Nevertheless, they have lost nine of the last 10 games and are at risk of giving up a top 10 pick to the San Antonio Spurs this summer. With them unable to rebuild in the draft, they have a clear ceiling, even with the emergence of Jalen Johnson, who is now out for the season, and 2024 first overall pick Zaccharie Risasher.
With them likely to struggle over the remainder of the season, the pressure will be on for them to improve over the summer. However, Atlanta has never been a big free agent destination, and there aren't many talented free agents that could make a difference even if they were.
That puts the future of star Trae Young very much into question. Young can become a free agent after next season, and the Hawks can't afford to lose him for nothing after giving up so much to build around him.
That could mean that they look to trade him this summer to try and maximize the return for the best player. Of course, they may have held on to him far too long with the going rate for stars seemingly having peaked.
The New York Knicks traded four first-round picks for Mikal Bridges only to see the Los Angeles Lakers trade Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a first-round pick to land a top-three player in Luka Dončić a few months later.
With Youngly under contract for one more season after this year, they may not get nearly as big a haul as the Brooklyn Nets did for Bridges and may have to settle for three first-round picks or fewer. That is even if there is a significant trade market for him.
After all, one of the predicted suitors for Young was the San Antonio Spurs, who ultimately landed their point guard for the future in De'Aaron Fox from the Sacramento Kings. Without the Spurs, who own Atlanta's next three picks, the Hawks don't have a clear potential trade partner to move Young to if it comes to that. That puts his future very much in question.