Should the Nets Have Pursued a Trade for Four-Time All-Star Guard Trae Young?

The Brooklyn Nets have been mentioned as a potential destination for the next All-Star that becomes available due to their cache of first round draft picks.

However, that All-Star will not be Trae Young, unless the Washington Wizards shockingly decide to reroute him at any point in the near future.

The Nets were not interested in trading for Young despite the four-time All-Star's interest in coming to the borough, according to NBA insider Jake Fischer.

At his best, Young is undoubtedly one of the NBA's premier 3-point shooters and playmakers at the point guard position, but struggles with efficiency, turnovers, and defense have also been a theme that has been hard for the 6-foot-2 guard to overcome.

The Oklahoma product has missed all but 10 games so far this season, and when he's off the floor, the Atlanta Hawks have looked much better on the defensive side of the ball.

However, it's hard to ignore that Young is the same player who once helped the Hawks advance all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, taking down the No. 1 seeded Philadelphia 76ers in seven games.

Young was in just his third season in the league at the time, and the Hawks appeared well on their way to becoming an Eastern Conference powerhouse.

However, roster turnover, stalled growth from Young and other young Hawks pieces caused the team to become a perennial play-in team.

At this stage of his career, Young shouldn't be expected to compete for MVP awards or be the No. 1 option of a championship-contending team, but his skill set could still be useful for a team looking to take the next step towards playoff contention.

If a championship-contending team elects to trade for Young, they'd need to surround him with several other long, suffocating defenders to hide some of Young's deficiencies on that side of the ball.

With the Nets placing a heavy emphasis on positional size and defense, it makes sense that the organization wasn't interested in trading for Young despite being good friends with Michael Porter Jr.

All it took for Washington to acquire Young was trading CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, so it may not have hurt the Nets to at least try and take a flyer on the 27-year-old.

However, any potential deal would've likely required the Nets to trade a significant amount of their depth, which probably would have not have been worth it in the long run.