How Hawks Could Trade for Anthony Davis After Sending Trae Young to Wizards

Liam McKeone | 19 Hours Ago

The Hawks have been connected to Anthony Davis in trade rumors throughout this season. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Hawks executed the first big trade of the 2025-26 NBA season on Wednesday night, sending Trae Young to the Wizards in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. It is a meaningful trade on several levels and shows just how far Young’s stock has fallen since he signed a max contract with Atlanta in 2021. But as noted by Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix in the immediate aftermath of the trade, it could open up a runway for the Hawks to trade for Anthony Davis.

Atlanta has been linked to AD throughout this season in trade rumors. Davis is one of the most impactful players likely to be on the market ahead of the February 5 trade deadline. Once the Mavericks fired the man who brought him to Dallas, Nico Harrison, he became the subject of plentiful trade speculation given his clunky fit with the Mavs’ future built around the talents of Cooper Flagg. In fact, hours before Young was traded, The Athletic named Atlanta as one of two primary suitors for Davis on the trade market—and the star himself is “amenable” to landing there.

Prior to Wednesday it was tricky to see how the Hawks might pull that off, however, because Young’s salary was a massive anchor on their cap sheet and all reports suggested the Mavericks were uninterested in trading for the point guard. But with Young’s $47 million contract in Washington, potential packages for Davis start to make a little more sense.

Here’s how the Hawks could land AD now that the Young situation has been resolved.

First, it’s key to understand that the assets Atlanta received in exchange for Young cannot be used to land Davis. Because the Hawks are over the cap, they cannot combine the salaries of McCollum or Kispert in order to trade for another player. They are permitted to trade either player on their own in a one-off deal before the deadline but their contracts cannot be combined in order to acquire a higher-salaried player. And since neither player makes enough money to be traded for Davis in a one-to-one swap, McCollum and Kispert’s names will both be absent in any possible trade package for the star big man.

Regardless, though, Atlanta has the required contracts to make a deal work financially and the assets to convince the Mavericks it’s worth it. On the money side, using Kristaps Porziņģis’s salary is a necessity; he’s making $30.7 million on an expiring deal. From there the Hawks can combine one or two more additional salaries to match Davis’s $54.1 million.

The most likely trade package the Hawks could offer seems to be Porziņģis and 2024 first overall pick Zaccharie Risacher. Their contracts match Davis’s perfectly and the combination of those two players is more appealing to Dallas than the alternative: Porziņģis, Luke Kennard, and one more low-salaried player. Atlanta has reportedly been resistant to including Risacher in trade talks thus far but his clean fit to help make the trade work financially cannot be ignored.

That’s how the Hawks can land Davis. At that point it’s about what else they can offer to entice the Mavs to actually get the deal done. Dallas would undoubtedly love to pry the Pelicans’ unprotected 2026 first-round pick from Atlanta but that is arguably the best draft asset in the league right now and the Hawks will be hard-pressed to give that up, even for a talent like Davis. Atlanta, however, doesn’t own its own first-round pick to offer in a trade until 2029.

If the Mavericks want as many draft assets as possible in exchange for AD then the Hawks are not the best trade partner. If they just want to move on from the star player and his onerous contract, tbough, Atlanta has the money required to get a deal done and seemingly the motivation to offer a deal.

Ultimately the most likely package seems like it would be Porziņģis and Risacher. It would be tough for the Hawks to give up on their first overall pick so quickly but Dallas is unlikely to give up Davis for free, and without putting the Pelicans pick into trade discussions Risacher is the most attractive asset Atlanta can offer outside of Porziņģis’s expiring contract.

A pretty solid deal for both sides. The Hawks land the type of star who can help them compete in this year’s East without taking too much away from the development of the young core players like Jalen Johnson. The Mavs get something in return for Davis and fully turn towards a Flagg-centric future. Young never really made sense in that regard; with him out of the picture, a path for an AD trade has crystalized.

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