The Anthony Davis trade market seemed relatively calm immediately following Nico Harrison’s firing. A strong December seems to have awakened some contenders. In the nine games he played this month, Davis averaged over 23 points and nearly 13 rebounds while providing his standard defensive excellence and helping the Mavericks get back into the Western Conference Play-In tournament picture.
A number of teams, including the Golden State Warriors, have reportedly considered a bid for Davis, but the Atlanta Hawks, according to Marc Stein, “seem to be the most determined suitors for Davis at this point.” There is a fairly simple path to a trade if Atlanta wants to pursue it. The Hawks can provide much of the necessary salary matching with Kristaps Porziņģis’ expiring contract. They recently selected the No. 1 overall pick in Zaccharie Risacher who Stein says is willing to trade with the right package.
Their debt to the San Antonio Spurs – accrued in the Dejounte Murray trade – is much less intimidating now than it seemed then. Besides their seemingly untouchable first-round pick from the Pelicans last June, the Hawks should also have a mid-first-round pick thanks to the trade rights they acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers in last year’s De’Andre Hunter deal. They owe San Antonio their first-round pick next year, but have a better pick thanks to their follow-up Murray trade with New Orleans. The Hawks will receive the lesser of the Pelicans and Bucks’ 2027 first-round picks, provided they both don’t land in the top four. After 2027, the Hawks control all of their own first-round picks. They’re free and clear to trade capital if they want, and based on Stein’s reports, they’re apparently enamored enough with Davis to consider it.
But there’s another obstacle at play here: money. Davis is owed a good chunk of that, more than $58 million for next season, even before factoring in a possible extension. Reports have indicated that Trae Young will not be part of a potential Davis deal, meaning his $49 million player option must be factored into any potential salary planning for 2026-27. In total, that’s about $107 million. The Hawks owe about $85 million more to core players Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Onyeka Okongwu and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Add in that first-round pick from New Orleans, and the Hawks are already flirting with $200 million in payroll committed to seven players.
This is notable since the projected luxury tax level for next season is just below $202 million. The Hawks haven’t paid the luxury tax since 2011 — before both that ownership group and the initial punitive tax changes introduced in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, much less the harsher changes that followed in the 2023 edition. Unite those six players and a high first-round pick and the Hawks would be a fiscal lock and probably have to head into apron territory to build the depth needed to contend for a championship. Maybe this group of owners would be willing to pay the tax for this group. We simply don’t have immediate evidence that they would.
Stein’s reporting acknowledges that reality while hinting at a possible solution: trading Young before he can exercise that option this summer. “There is a growing belief throughout the league that the Hawks are more willing to trade him than they have ever been,” Stein wrote. Of course, this raises the question we’ve been asking all season with players like Ja Morant and LaMelo Ball: There is apparently There is less appetite in the league than ever to trade considerable assets for defensively deficient guards who don’t consistently make their 3s.
Young missed most of this season due to injury. He was disappointing when he played, posting some of the worst shooting numbers of his career while generating less value as a playmaker as the Hawks handed more on-ball responsibilities to his younger teammates. Atlanta wants Davis because of how well he has played without Young. With him, the Hawks are 2-8 so far this season. The question here is: If the Hawks don’t want to pay Young, why would anyone else?
You’re looking for a very specific type of team. The concept the Hawks would apparently be moving toward in bringing in Davis and sending Young would be to fully rely on size and defense. This has become an increasingly popular pattern, as the heliocentric and pick-and-roll attacks of the last decade begin to fall out of fashion. Such players can still have their place, but as floor lifters more than ceiling lifters. Young’s flaws as a defender and off-ball offensive player are so glaring that teams trying to win a championship probably don’t want him. But teams trying to win 40 or 45 games? Well, that’s his specialty. The Hawks are on a five-year streak in which they have won no fewer than 36 games and no more than 43 (or, if you adjust the 2020-21 season to an 82-game pace, 47). So the goal here would be to find a team that, for one reason or another, wants to be in that range and has expired salaries to send to Atlanta in order to accommodate its new Davis-centric payroll.
The Clippers make a lot of sense in this regard. They have expiring contracts with John Collins, Bogdan Bogdanović and Brook Lopez. They also have a desperate need to maintain some semblance of respectability. They’re on track to give the Thunder a high lottery pick this year, and they owe their next three first-round picks to Oklahoma City and Philadelphia. This is a team that wants to be a recruiting force. Giving rivals future stars is not the way to go about it. Young could be a bridge. Pair him with Ivica Zubac and a group of defensive wings and the Clippers could be competitive for a few years while they wait for their draft picks and plan for their true future.
The Kings can usually be counted on to do something rash, and consistent playing spots would be a significant improvement for them. They have been linked to Morant before. Perhaps they would view Young as a suitable replacement for De’Aaron Fox a year after their unfortunate trade for Zach LaVine. Their contracts don’t expire, but there are ways to fix this. The simplest would be for them to trade Domantas Sabonis elsewhere and ensure that only the expired money comes back to them, which they could then trade for Young.
It’s not an exciting pool of contenders, but that’s where the point guard market is today. In truth, the right basketball decision – at least in the short term – would probably be to keep Young alongside Davis from the start. They easily fit as a high-end pick-and-roll guard and one of the best lob threats in NBA history. Perhaps playing together would raise Young’s stock enough to force him out this summer. Worst case scenario, he only has one year left on his contract. No one is asking the Hawks to pay the penalty for repeat offenses. Keep the team together for a year and a half. Pay a big tax bill. Reevaluate things from there.
Some teams are more comfortable than others in these financial waters. This Hawks ownership group has never paid the tax, but it has never had a roster worthy of doing so either. Maybe a version of these Hawks with Young and Davis is good enough to justify it. Or maybe the whole concept of acquiring Davis is to reorient the roster away from Young, fully relying on all that size, defense and athleticism they’ve accumulated, even if it means sacrificing on offense. Stein’s reporting here seems to imply that this is the idea. Why else would you be tied to one All-Star while being open to moving another. This feels less like an all-in push and more like a deck shuffle. Davis is certainly accessible for the Hawks. The question here is whether they will be able to put the money around him, either by acquiring Young or trading him to keep the rest of the roster intact.
