Is it Possible That Atlanta Could Start A Complete Rebuild and Trade Both Dejounte Murray and Trae Young?

It is setting up to be an interesting offseason in Atlanta to say the least.

After another disappointing end to the season, the Atlanta Hawks find themselves at a crossroads that might end with them trading one of Dejounte Murray or Trae Young.

One option that is not being discussed though is what if the Hawks opted to trade both of them and enter into a full rebuild around Jalen Johnson, Kobe Bufkin, and Mouhamed Gueye. It is an unlikely scenario, but I think it is worth exploring every potential outcome of this offseason.

In my opinion though, this is not a likey outcome of this offseason and let's start of with why.

First, Atlanta does not control its own picks for the next few years in the future. San Antonio owns Atlanta's 2025 unprotected pick and their 2027 unprotected pick, as well as a 2026 pick swap. That makes it hard for any team to go completely into a tank and try and get a high draft pick. That is the most important thing standing in Atlanta's way if it decides to do that, but there is something else that is going underdiscussed.

That would be head coach Quin Snyder.

Snyder took this job last February and I don't know that he wants to go through a rebuild that would take some time, though that is just speculation on my part. When talking about the future, NBA insider Shams Charania brought up Snyder and talked about his role in the future for Atlanta:

"The one thing to keep an eye on in Atlanta is Quin Snyder, that aspect, he just finished his second season in Atlanta and I believe he has three years left on his contract at $8 million dollars per year and there has been some conversation around the league about what his status is like, he is committed there, he is going to be there, his relationship with Trae Young has been strong. So where does that leave this organization as it makes these hard decisions? This is going to be an important offseason for Landry Fields and that front office."

Again, this is just speculation, but I don't think Snyder wants to be the head coach of a rebuild.

While those are two big things standing in the way of a complete tear down for Atlanta, what would it look like if they did?

First, I think there is only one scenario in which this works and that is if Atlanta sent Trae Young to San Antonio to get their draft picks back. That would automatically make things easier for the Hawks to move on and start a rebuild. Atlanta could then move Murray, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Clint Capela, and the other veterans to make room for the young players to take over from the franchise.

This is a very unlikely scenario, but it is worth discussing every possibility that the Hawks could take this summer. I am still of the believe that they will pick one of the guards to build around and trade the other for more assets and try to have more of a restart than a rebuild.