Lakers News: The Trae Young Trade That Could Return LA To Playoff Glory

Definitely a little wishful thinking here.

The Lakers are getting set to defend home court against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night at the Crypto.com Arena. Since it's a Laker game day, we'll be continuing our tradition at All Lakers of matching up the Lakers and their opponent for a potential trade. You can read about the proposal with their last opponent, the Miami Heat, here.

As for today's opponent, there aren't a lot of assets that would make sense in a deal between these teams. Bogdan Bogdanovic and John Collins are the likeliest Hawks to be dealt, but the Lakers probably wouldn't want to get involved with either of those contracts. I could see them trading for Bogdanovic, but does he really move the needle into them being a true contender? Probably not.

So, let's have some fun, and go big. There's been some rumors surrounding Trae Young potentially being moved by the Hawks. While it doesn't seem likely the Hawks would trade their All-Star point guard the year his massive extension kicks in, it's still very much a possibility. Vegas even has betting odds for his next team, and the Lakers are among the top five.

So what would a deal look like?

Anthony Davis may very well have to be involved to make a deal work, but we're going to make a proposal that doesn't include him.

The Lakers only have first-round picks in 2027 and 2029 to trade, but they could offer pick swaps in 2026 and 2028. Those 2027 and 2029 firsts are two of the most valuable assets in basketball right now — but then again, if the Lakers are getting Young, they would likely have the ability to remain contenders in those seasons.

Still, something around Russell Westbrook, Max Christie and those four picks for Young and Jarrett Culver/Justin Holiday does work in terms of money. The Hawks would be doing it to somewhat start over — Westbrook is on an expiring contract — and they could also trade John Collins (or decide to build around him).

Again, it doesn't feel likely, but the Hawks are currently 18-20, and don't have a ton of financial flexibility with the current makeup of their roster. If they were looking to drastically change things up, this would definitely be one way to do it. And as far as the Lakers, a big three of Young, Davis and LeBron catapults them to the contender status. So if there was ever a trade that was worth giving up all the picks for, this would definitely be it.