Wizards Land Trae Young in Blockbuster Trade with Hawks

The long-awaited notification from ESPN's Shams Charania finally came for Washington Wizards fans. It was made official after the team's loss to the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers that they would be trading CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert to the Atlanta Hawks for All-Star guard Trae Young. The deal took countless hours to reach a conclusion, but both teams finally agreed.

BREAKING: The Atlanta Hawks are trading four-time NBA All-Star Trae Young to the Washington Wizards for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/WIf8rhrRFu
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 8, 2026

It was rumored that the Wizards would also get draft compensation in return. Still, ultimately, talks about draft picks stalled anytime they were mentioned. Still, this is an excellent get for the Wizards for multiple reasons. Young can serve as the point guard of the future, or he can be flipped for draft picks.

Wizards Land All-Star Trae Young

It seemed like Trae Young's days in Atlanta were numbered, and that he was not putting on the Hawks uniform again. At first, his camp wanted to go to Brooklyn or Minnesota, but neither team was willing to trade for Young. So, they put all their focus on the Wizards. Will Dawkins saw the opportunity and took advantage, getting an All-Star without giving up any young core player or draft pick.

Young is having a down year, averaging 19.3 points per game on 30.5 percent shooting from distance. However, when Young is on, very few players can stop him. In the past three seasons, Young averaged 25.3 points per game on 34.9 percent from distance, along with 10.8 assists per game. So clearly, when Young is healthy and put in the right situation, he is one of the best guards in the NBA.

In Washington, he has some nice weapons around him to succeed as the primary facilitator and ball handler. Young always thrives with a lob threat, and having Alex Sarr should help expand both players' games. Young will increase his assist numbers, while Sarr will increase his points per game, having someone to throw up lobs to him, something he was missing in McCollum.

Projected Wizards starting lineup:

PG: Trae Young (27)
SG: Tre Johnson (19)
SF: Bilal Coulibaly (21)
PF: Kyshawn George (22)
C: Alex Sarr (20) pic.twitter.com/wHNveEBF6e
— Greg Finberg (@GregFinberg) January 8, 2026

Tre Johnson also has another shooter next to him, so now teams cannot focus on him as much. It looks like a mini Steph Curry and Klay Thompson situation. Marvin Bagley should also see an uptick in production when paired with Young. The only player who might struggle with him is Kyshawn George, who was the primary ball handler while healthy. It will be interesting to see how they play together.

The worst part of this trade is moving on from Corey Kispert, as he was someone the front office loved. If there were a way to make this trade happen while keeping Kispert, the organization would have done so. It, however, is a price that the team had to be willing to pay. The Wizards also wanted some form of draft compensation, but anytime picks were brought up, trade talks stalled. Still, getting young without giving up any core members of the rebuild is a big win.

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