Trae Young, Come on DOWN

[BMagic]

With McCollum and Middleton expiring at the end of this season, they had to be creative to ensure they hit the salary cap floor and since Trae is only signed for one more year, that may be a good bridge contract to hit the floor until it's time to re-up some of the young guys.

I'd love them to somehow convince Trae to play off-ball some possessions. I'm not a fan of guards being ball dominant and having over 30% usage rates. That should be reserved for the Jokic/Giannis types who shoot really high percentages and can facilitate. Even Steph plays off ball. The rare exception is Shai because he's so damn efficient.

[smoothSeph]

If nothing else this will be interesting. Trae actually wants to be here which is only positive I can think of.

Not the fact that he's an All NBA scorer and facilitator? Forgot the Wizards are too good for that now

[prime1time]

I think nate said it, someone said it, but the whole preserve the tank line is hilarious. You go through all this to "preserve the tank"? The Wiz do ATL a favor with taking on an extra year of Young (I can't imagine he turns down that option, but here's to praying), and get nothing in terms of draft compensation. Not even moving up a couple spots with that late pick. You could have just sat CJ down with some old guy injury that he probably has for the rest of season.

I suppose they cleaned up a mess of their own making in getting out of a dumb Kispert extension. Front office looks like it's just throwing spaghetti at a wall. Also helps something else for fodder for local media now that Deni is really starting to get a lot of shine around the league. Well played Dawkins, well played.

I think it's incumbent on people who push the "just sit CJ and tank line" to explain their plan for Sarr's development without a competent pg on the roster.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

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Yes, now let’s flip Trae for Giannis

[ledell_gumbo]

People here are acting like they're the only ones who know about the protected 1st. Young or no Young, the Wizards were going to have to take intentional steps to preserve the pick -- so you can assume that'll stay the same now. If you think he's just a negative presence on the team, maybe that's true; I personally think a real offense will benefit everyone's development, but maybe his ball-dominance will be a problem. If you think the cap space should be used elsewhere, maybe that's true -- but it's hard to use 80-100M optimally.

But let's not pretend that Dawkins just forgot about the tank.

[badinage]

Ask yourself: what did they give up to acquire him?

No first-round pick or picks.

No core players for the future. Not Bilal. Not Champagnie. Not Will Riley. Not George. Not Bub.

They gave up two players who don’t matter.

(Although, as people, CJ seems like a great man, and I liked Corey too.)

But neither matter.

That’s it. That’s what they gave up.

That’s ALL they gave up.

Will it work? Who knows.

And those who say they do, don’t. We know what Trae was like on those Hawks teams. We don’t know what he’ll be like on this team, which is built differently from that Atlanta squad that made a deepish run.

But they gave up nothing.

They go into next year with Trae and Tre in the backcourt. And Sarr. And George and Bilal and Champagne and Riley. All of the younguns bigger and stronger and better. And they add — let’s say — Dybantsa or Boozer. And another FRP. And a big man signing.

That’s … intriguing. And maybe much more.

[nate33]

I think it’s a tank saving move. CJ was winning us games. I think Trae gets shut down for the season:

From DA and Robbins in the Athletic;

Washington, in rebuilding mode but with some young players who have shown signs of growth this season, quickly became a realistic option for Young to try and rehabilitate himself, both physically and reputationally.

…

The sprain, though, is not fully healed, and Washington will give Young as much time as he needs to get completely healthy.

I think they say they are going to slow play his rehab. Give him time to get 100% etc. And Saddiq Bey him. While looking like they’re making a nice move. But giving an excuse to stay young on the court.

Only thing is I’m not sure going young helps the tank as much as it should given how much Bub and TJ3 are improving. I think as long as we play Sarr and JC we have a chance to win games. We’d tank better with Trae in ballhog mode.

This is, by far, the most encouraging part of this whole thing. It really does appear that they’re setting the stage to sit Trae for much of the season. And if he does sit most of the season, he really won’t be in position to negotiate a very lucrative extension.

That should give us good flexibility after the draft. If we draft a big like Boozer or Wilson, then we would probably look to try to extend Trae Young at a lower salary for a three year deal. If we draft a primary ball handler like Peterson or Flemings, then we just let Trae opt in on his final year and let our rookie serve as his understudy for a year. Then we cut Trae loose, or maybe deal him at the trade deadline.

[smoothSeph]

This was an awful trade. It is hard to explain why, but I will do my best.

Is Trae a tank commander? If so, good I guess, but why would anyone want to commit $49 million in salary next season to a tank commander. Atlanta should have compensated the Wizards for taking his salary off their hands. If he isn’t a tank commander, why trade for him now and risk losing the first round pick. Do the Wizards view him as a long term asset? If so, why trade for him now, he will be a free agent in a season and a half.

The Wizards lost the opportunity of trading CJ and Kispert for draft capital. Maybe no one would have traded for them this season, but $30 million in cap space can facilitate a lot of sign and trades this offseason. That cap space is now gone.

We're going to have too much cap space to spend next year, even with Trae. You're basically counting Ted's pockets. It won't matter.

You know who wasn't a tank commander? The past month of CJ McCollum. Young isn't playing anytime soon, that alone will put us in better position to keep the pick.

[AFM]

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[badinage]

I think it’s a tank saving move. CJ was winning us games. I think Trae gets shut down for the season:

From DA and Robbins in the Athletic;

Washington, in rebuilding mode but with some young players who have shown signs of growth this season, quickly became a realistic option for Young to try and rehabilitate himself, both physically and reputationally.

…

The sprain, though, is not fully healed, and Washington will give Young as much time as he needs to get completely healthy.

I think they say they are going to slow play his rehab. Give him time to get 100% etc. And Saddiq Bey him. While looking like they’re making a nice move. But giving an excuse to stay young on the court.

Only thing is I’m not sure going young helps the tank as much as it should given how much Bub and TJ3 are improving. I think as long as we play Sarr and JC we have a chance to win games. We’d tank better with Trae in ballhog mode.

This is, by far, the most encouraging part of this whole thing. It really does appear that they’re setting the stage to sit Trae for much of the season. And if he does sit most of the season, he really won’t be in position to negotiate a very lucrative extension.

The timing of the trade.

No one’s talking about it — but it’s very interesting.

Nearly a MONTH before the trade deadline.

And significantly: right after a stretch during which they went 5-2.

Dawkins saw that CJ was hurting the long-range vision.

Clearly.

But what that stretch of vastly improved play did was to show the players that they’ve made a leap. They got to glimpse what could be.

And now we shut this shxt down and wait for next year.

Win-win.

[nate33]

we still have about 62 million in cap room this summer. Minus whatever it takes to sign our rookies. So probably closer to 48 million.

[nate33]

Read on Twitter

The Beal haul isn’t looking that good anymore. That 2026 pick swap won’t amount to anything. We have sloppy seconds on the 2028 pick swap, so that’s likely nothing too. The only one that might come into play is the 2030 picks swap.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

I think nate said it, someone said it, but the whole preserve the tank line is hilarious. You go through all this to "preserve the tank"? The Wiz do ATL a favor with taking on an extra year of Young (I can't imagine he turns down that option, but here's to praying), and get nothing in terms of draft compensation. Not even moving up a couple spots with that late pick. You could have just sat CJ down with some old guy injury that he probably has for the rest of season.

I suppose they cleaned up a mess of their own making in getting out of a dumb Kispert extension. Front office looks like it's just throwing spaghetti at a wall. Also helps something else for fodder for local media now that Deni is really starting to get a lot of shine around the league. Well played Dawkins, well played.

I think it's incumbent on people who push the "just sit CJ and tank line" to explain their plan for Sarr's development without a competent pg on the roster.

Hmmm there's this guy in Portland... ah nvm.

[dobrojim]

Ask yourself: what did they give up to acquire him?

No first-round pick or picks.

No core players for the future. Not Bilal. Not Champagnie. Not Will Riley. Not George. Not Bub.

They gave up two players who don’t matter.

(Although, as people, CJ seems like a great man, and I liked Corey too.)

But neither matter.

That’s it. That’s what they gave up.

That’s ALL they gave up.

Will it work? Who knows.

And those who say they do, don’t. We know what Trae was like on those Hawks teams. We don’t know what he’ll be like on this team, which is built differently from that Atlanta squad that made a deepish run.

But they gave up nothing.

They go into next year with Trae and Tre in the backcourt. And Sarr. And George and Bilal and Champagne and Riley. All of the younguns bigger and stronger and better. And they add — let’s say — Dybantsa or Boozer. And another FRP. And a big man signing.

That’s … intriguing. And maybe much more.

They gave up any seriousness about defense. If they
actually play him this year that is.

[AFM]

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[dcstanley]

I think this was done with Sarr in mind. Say what you want about Trae (and you can say a lot), he's a very good P&R operator and really the first dynamic PG we've had since Wall. I can see Sarr benefitting from this partnership.

[DCZards]

I think they say they are going to slow play his rehab. Give him time to get 100% etc. And Saddiq Bey him. While looking like they’re making a nice move. But giving an excuse to stay young on the court.

Only thing is I’m not sure going young helps the tank as much as it should given how much Bub and TJ3 are improving. I think as long as we play Sarr and JC we have a chance to win games. We’d tank better with Trae in ballhog mode.

Nah...we don't want a Trae in ballhog mode. That would be terrible for the development of the youngins'. Just sit him for the rest of the season...or at least until we're sure we've locked in our top pick. And then let Young cook next season. Bub, TJ, and AJJ will be just fine as tank commanders while Trae sits.

I'm hoping that Trae will be good letting his usage decrease in 2026-27 as he lets Sarr, Tre, Bub, Kyshawn, Bilal and our 2026 pick eat off of his passing. Even coming out of Oklahoma I thought Trae's best asset was his passing and playmaking...and not his scoring.

Young led the NBA in assists last season. He had 160 more assists than Joker who was second in assists.

[LoveMyRaps]

Surprised yall don’t like this trade.

This trade is similar to the Ingram one the Raps pulled off last season, and that turned out to be a home run,

I think Trae will elevate Sarr’s game. And as long as he can focus on being the primary playmaker, instead of a chucking machine, yall will be fine.

[TheBlackCzar]

Check out this article about how terrible our offense is....
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6952755/2026/01/07/trae-young-trade-grades-hawks-wizards-nba/

Again while I understand the complaints about his defense, our defense currently is trash, and our offense is trash....
We give up the 2nd most points in the league, and last year gave up historical numbers on defense, and our offense was disgusting then and is still disgusting.....
We have to score points too...
If we're good enough to be in a series where he's hunted and we're eliminated, that actually is a good problem to deal with....
And with this trade now, we only have like 4 guys over 26, and everybody else is 24 or younger....
Even adding Trae we're dropping a 33yo for a 27yo......

But he'll have us at least in the middle of the pack offensively, which is definitely a big step up from 27th.....
I thought we wanted a better team long term....
Considering our team wouldn't have enough money to field a team over 90% of the cap, who ya'll think we could have gotten better with the free money....

I'm not implying it's no better option, but who would the board presume to have been the best way to play this?
All ya'll screaming sit CJ don't understand player dynamics in the NBA...
U are not going to sit a dude who was NBAPA President, that's bad business...
This game is about relationships as much as it is about talent....
It seems were trying to build both a better reputation league wide, increase our talent, increase our assets now and going forward, continue internal development of our guys, and hopefully strike gold sooner than later...
Plus I think Adam Silver will look at us more favorably, if we're playing hard growing as a team, and still get into the lottery....
Trae has a realistic injury (MCL, quad, achilles 2x last season).... All these injuries require rest to fully heal...
He could sit the rest of or most of the remaining parts of this year...
We can see what he's really hitting on at the latter part of this year and next year or just next year....

In the end Trae is better than any PG we've had since RW....
He's much better than CJ and Jordan Poole... So we turned Poole into Trae....
How is that not considered robbery???
I get that the Deni trade clouds all reason with alot of ya'll, and I admit that trade looks terrible in hindsight, but it's done...
We're still building a good team without Deni, and you're lying if you say we wouldn't have lost our pick this season...
To Deni's most ardent fans that much is clear, Deni would've cost us our pick this year....

So now that we're on the path we're on, why can't this be a good move?

[TheBlackCzar]

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The Beal haul isn’t looking that good anymore. That 2026 pick swap won’t amount to anything. We have sloppy seconds on the 2028 pick swap, so that’s likely nothing too. The only one that might come into play is the 2030 picks swap.

We didn't have any leverage for more...

His NTC capped our return for him, and this was the most we could pull from PHX since they had already traded everything else for KD)....

So while it wasn't glamorous, what else was a possibility?

To get that much was bleeding water from a rock in the desert.......