Trae Young Trade Rumors: Spurs Have 'Little Interest' in Hawks Star Amid Lakers Buzz | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Andrew Mccoy If the Los Angeles Lakers want to pursue a trade for Trae Young this summer, they may not have to worry about the San Antonio Spurs getting in their way.
Per Yahoo Sports' Jake Fischer, the Spurs' interest in acquiring Young from the Atlanta Hawks has been "vastly overstated" and they have shown "little interest" in the three-time All-Star thus far.
A lot of attention is being paid to what the Spurs might look to do during the offseason as they try to add talent around Victor Wembanyama.
Young's future in Atlanta has been the subject of great speculation dating back to the trade deadline.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported during the draft lottery on Sunday the Hawks having trade talks involving Young "this spring and into the summer are very real, too."
The Hawks' offseason became even more intriguing after they won the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft lottery.
ESPN's Brian Windhorst said this week on The Hoop Collective Podcast (h/t RealGM.com) that Atlanta could be more likely to trade Young than Dejounte Murray.
The Lakers and Spurs have been two popular landing spots linked to Young if he does get moved. Los Angeles could have a need at point guard with D'Angelo Russell considered likely to opt out of his $18.7 million deal for the 2024-25 season.
Young would solve a lot of the Lakers' offensive problems, especially as a pick-and-roll partner with Anthony Davis. He's not the most efficient three-point shooter, but his 37.3 percent success rate this season was the second-best mark of his career.
The Athletic's Jovan Buha (starts at 55:38 mark) noted in March the Lakers had interest in Young at the trade deadline, but they only had a 2029 first-round pick available to trade that wasn't enough to entice the Hawks into making a deal.
The Lakers will have up to three first-round picks, including 2029 and 2031, to package in trade proposals this offseason.
Fischer noted there's a belief around the league that San Antonio will "explore" finding a long-term pick-and-roll partner with Wembanyama.
The Hawks would certainly have interest in talking with the Spurs to potentially try to re-acquire at least one of the unprotected first-round picks in 2025 and 2027 they sent to San Antonio in the Murray trade.
Young's limitations on the defensive end of the court would almost certainly be mitigated by playing with Wembanyama. He's owed $89 million over the next two seasons, but his deal includes a 15 percent trade kicker. His deal also has an early-termination option for 2026-27 that would be worth just under $49 million if he were to play it out.
Despite Wembanyama's emergence as a superstar during his rookie season, the Spurs finished with the second-worst record in the Western Conference (22-60). They ranked in the bottom 10 in offensive rating (110.0), defensive rating (116.4) and net rating (-6.4).