A Hawks season that seemed to show so much promise in the preseason and the early weeks of the season has swung back toward mediocrity and uncertainty.
With Trae Young’s trade to the Washington Wizards, the four-time All-Star guard moves on from the team that drafted him at No. 5 overall in 2018 and heads toward his next challenge in the nation’s capital.
“Never thought I’d be typing this,” Young began in a contemplative post Friday morning on X (formerly Twitter). “The last few years weren’t how I wanted them to be. Expectations that we created for ourselves, reaching heights that Atlanta has never reached before.
“Bringing a championship to Atlanta was always my goal. However, between the injuries, the setbacks, and situations that didn’t make sense, we never truly got to see our full potential.”
The Hawks reached their peak in getting to the Eastern Conference finals in 2021 but that was the only season in Young’s time that they ever seriously threatened in the playoffs. They’ve become a perennial participant in the Play-In Tournament, finishing near the middle of the conference in the regular season.
After acquiring Kristaps Porzingis and Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the offseason, the expectations shifted to maybe finishing in the top five in the East, but Young has struggled with injuries, playing only 10 games this season. The Hawks carried an 18-21 record into their western road trip this week and the revelation that they’d agreed to a trade with the Wizards on Wednesday sent things in another direction.
Young will have an opportunity to help a young and rebuilding Wizards squad as one of their lead veterans.
Atlanta was still on his mind Friday in his social post.
“The city that raised me and taught me so much will always be a chapter in this story,” he wrote. “However, the pain of staying the same eventually outweighed the uncertainty of change. Change is often met with fear, but I see it as another opportunity.
“I’m walking into this next chapter ecstatic, with my head high and my eyes forward. It’s time to see what’s possible when the support is real and the vision is clear. We move.”
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