With The Lakers Season Over, Get Ready For The Trae Young To Los Angeles Rumors To Start

Jackson Caudell | Apr 30, 2024

Jan 30, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) shoots at the basket over / Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The rumors have been out there for a while, but get ready for the Trae Young trade talks to the Lakers to pick up steam now that the Lakers have been officially eliminated from the playoffs.

Before diving deeper into this, it should be noted that the Hawks have not made Young available for trade and Young has not asked to be traded. This is all just speculation and I still think Young will remain in Atlanta when all is said and done this summer. It seems that Atlanta is heading towards breaking up their backcourt of Young and Dejounte Murray, but that could mean that Murray is the one who is traded. Atlanta was shopping Murray this season, including to the Lakers.

During his exit interview after the loss to the Chicago Bulls in the play-in tournament, Young reiterated that he wants to remain in Atlanta and that he wants to win championships:

"Every year teams are different, obviously, I want to be here, but I want to win. I want to be here and I want to win championships here and do that, but I want to win, I mean, that is pretty much all it is for me, that is my motto and that has been me from the beginning."

When asked if he thought he could win with the Hawks or if it was with someone else, this was Young's response:

"I believe it can be here, we just have to make it happen."

The Lakers might be aggressive this offseason in trying to make one last championship run with LeBron James on the roster before he retires. The Lakers have been a good team over the past couple of seasons, but the Denver Nuggets have beaten them two years in a row and are not going anywhere. It is not just the Nuggets that will be in the Lakers way. Oklahoma City, Minnesota, Dallas, and the Clippers will likely bring back everyone and contend next year. Not only that, but San Antonio is a team to watch this summer as they try and build a contender around Victor Wembanyama, who is already one of the NBA's best players. The Lakers probably can't win with their current roster, which means they will be trying to make upgrades.

Almost like clockwork, the Young to the Lakers rumors have begun.

When breaking down the Lakers game three loss to the Nuggets on an episode of the Lowe Post Podcast, with ESPN analyst Zach Lowe, NBA analyst Mo Dakhil (Bleacher Report and The Athletic) said that he wants to see the Lakers go and get Trae Young once the season is over:

"I just want to throw it out there... I want to see them get Trae Young. I think if LeBron is sticking around, you have LeBron, AD, and I think you would have Trae Young playing that Kyrie Irving role, looking back to the Cleveland days and I think that would be a pretty good fit for the Lakers. I think seeing that they did not get him (Kyrie Irving), you have to make a run at Trae because that is kinda looking forward to the future and he is a young guy that would take pressure off LeBron, I think that would be the move I would make if I were the Lakers, but they have a lot of questions to answer."

On ESPN's Get Up this morning, ESPN's Brian Windhorst brought up Young as a trade target for the Lakers this offseason.

"There are opportunities for them, not necessarily in free agency, but via trade. They will have up to three first round picks that they can trade, starting on draft night, including this years first round pick if they want to and they have some pieces on their roster that they can use in trade. Now, what player would that be? Well, we will have to see what happens with star players as the season ends across the league. I think one name that you will hear as we get into this is Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks may look to break up their backcourt of Young and Dejounte Murray. The Lakers were interested in trading for Dejounte Murray during this season. Trae is the type of player that multiple teams will have interest in if the Hawks decide to make a move. I am not sure that he solves a lot of what the Lakers ills were, perimeter defense was an issue for the Lakers this season and in this series, that is something that Trae is not going to help with, but he is definitely a guy that will super charge your offense and he would look potentially amazing next to LeBron and AD, but there are other options and things that will develop over the next two months."

.@WindhorstESPN believes Trae Young could be a target for the Lakers in the offseason 👀 pic.twitter.com/LLpoOp5eyk

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) April 30, 2024

If Atlanta does make Young available, there will be more teams than the Lakers that will try to trade for Young. I think other teams can also a lot more for Young than the Lakers can.

When looking at a potential trade, it is hard to get fired up if you are the Hawks about what the Lakers could offer outside of some draft picks. Austin Reaves is an intriguing player, but should not be the centerpiece of a deal for a player the caliber of Trae Young. The offer for Young would likely include Reaves, the three first-round picks, a young player such as Max Christie, and Rui Hachimura.

The other destination that has been mentioned the most for Young is the San Antonio Spurs.

This summer is shaping up to be a potentially wild one in the NBA and the Hawks might be at the center of it no matter who they decide to trade. For now, these are just rumors, but they are going to be talked about ad nauseam becuase it is the Lakers.

Buckle up for the rumor mill this summer.