NBA trade proposal sends Hawks’ Trae Young to Blazers

Sometimes, the most interesting trade ideas are the ones that make you stop, squint, and say, OK, I can at least see it.

That’s the case with a hypothetical floated by ESPN’s Zach Kram, who connects the Trail Blazers and Hawks around one big name and a very different set of needs. Let’s take a look:

Trail Blazers receive:

• Trae Young

Hawks receive:

• Jerami Grant
• Robert Williams III

From Portland’s side, the logic is pretty straightforward. They need a point guard. Badly. Damian Lillard is out for the season. Jrue Holiday hasn’t played since mid-November. Shaedon Sharpe is still figuring things out. Scoot Henderson is both injured and unproven.

Entering this week, Deni Avdija was the only Blazer with 100-plus assists. That’s not a stat you want attached to your offense.

Young would change that immediately. Portland’s offense ranks near the bottom of the league, and Young would give them instant creation, spacing, and direction. The theory, at least, is that the Blazers have enough size and defensive pieces around him to survive on that end, even if that experiment never quite clicked in Atlanta.

For the Hawks, the appeal is different. Grant would help stabilize the forward rotation once healthy. He’s been out since mid-December with Achilles tendinitis, but he’s quietly having a strong season — 20 points per game on excellent efficiency.

Williams, when available, brings rim protection and toughness, two things Atlanta has lacked at times.

The complication, of course, is money. Grant makes less annually than Young, but his deal runs longer. He’s owed $34.2 million in 2026-27 and holds a $36.4 million player option for 2027-28. That’s not nothing.

Still, as hypotheticals go, this one checks more boxes than most. Whether it ever moves beyond that is another question entirely.