Trae Young Leads The Way On Hawks Injury Report Ahead of Wednesday's Matchup With New Orleans

Trae Young is once again questionable for the Hawks ahead of their Wednesday night matchup against the Pelicans

Dec 2, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) shoots against the New Orleans Pelicans in the second quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

While trade rumors continue to swirl around the Atlanta Hawks and star point guard Trae Young, the team still has games to play. The next contest for the Hawks is going to come on Wednesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans, who will be on the second night of a back to back, as they face the Los Angeles Lakers tonight.

Ahead of that matchup against New Orleans, the Hawks have released their injury report and Young is the most prominent player on it. He is questionable with a right quad contusion. If he is unable to play tomorrow night, it is going to be the sixth straight missed game for him.

An @emoryhealthcare injury report for tomorrow’s game vs. New Orleans:

Trae Young (right quad contusion): Questionable

N’Faly Dante (right knee, torn ACL): Out pic.twitter.com/iukLGKbEz0

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) January 6, 2026

The Hawks are 2-3 during this stretch without Young.

Trade talks heating up

Dec 26, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) points to teammates during the game against the Miami Heat during the third quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images | Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

After the news broke yesterday that Young was working with his agents on a trade out of Atlanta, there has been more and more information come out about which teams might be interested in a trade for the Hawks point guard.

According to Michael Scotto at HoopsHype, the Bucks, Timberwolves, and Clippers have shown an interest in acquiring Young via trade.

"The Bucks have diligently explored roster upgrades around Giannis Antetokounmpo and rank 26th in the league in points per game (113.3). The Timberwolves have actively explored the trade market across the league in search of a potential starting point guard upgrade, league sources told HoopsHype. The Clippers have underwhelmed overall to start the season despite a recent winning spurt. They must determine their long-term plan for James Harden, who has a player option for next season, which includes a $13.3 million partially guaranteed salary that becomes fully guaranteed for $42.32 million on July 11th.

Amid these trade discussions picking up, the 27-year-old guard has currently been sidelined with a right quad contusion, coming off his previous MCL injury."

While all three teams make sense, it would not be easy to do a deal with either of them.

Milwaukee appears to be set on keeping Giannis Antetokounmpo past the trade deadline and try to add talent around him in hopes of making a run in the Eastern Conference. While that might seem foolish, Milwaukee appears to be desperate to add any sort of talent around Giannis and Myles Turner, as they have been connected to Zach LaVine, and adding Young at a low price is not a terrible move from them.

It is hard to find a straight trade for Young that would work for Atlanta. The simplest one would be sending Young to the Bucks for Kyle Kuzma, Bobby Portis, and Gary Harris, but all three of those players have one more year left on their deal and are not exactly going to help the Hawks win. They could fit for the rest of the year, with Kuzma being a backup to Zaccharie Risacher (which the Hawks don't really have) and Portis would be a nice backup for Jalen Johnson, but would the Hawks want them on the team next year?

If Milwaukee threw in their unprotected 2031 1st round pick, that might be enticing enough for the Hawks to pull the trigger. I think if Milwaukee wants to trade for Young, it might need to be a multi team deal where the Bucks could send those players elsewhere.

Minnesota could use an upgrade at point guard, but they would have to trade multiple impact players away and that would make their team less impressive and without much depth. A combination of guys like Naz Reid, Mike Conley, and/or Donte DiVincenzo could get it done, but then Minnesota would be without two of their best players and unsure if their team is actually better.

The Clippers make a lot of sense, as they are another team without many assets to acquire talent and they could acquire Young in multiple ways. They could try and include James Harden in the deal, though I doubt the Hawks want him in return, or they could use a combination of John Collins and Bogdan Bogdanovic's deals to land him while giving the Hawks the cap space they desire to either make a big trade or use in free agency.

Things are starting to heat up in the Trae Young trade market and a deal could happen at any point in time over the next few weeks.