With the Dejounte Murray trade, the Hawks finally moved on and settled around Trae Young again – for now

Either way, the Atlanta Hawks have to feel a lot better today because they finally ripped off the Band-Aid. One of Dejounte Murray or Trae Young had to go… at the very least. Today, the answer was Murray, whom the team sent to New Orleans for Dyson Daniels, Larry Nance Jr., EJ Liddell and two first-round picks, league sources confirmed Friday.

Somehow, it appears that the Hawks have been able to save approximately 97 cents on the dollar from the reckless trade that brought Murray to Atlanta in the first place, putting them in trouble of being consistently mediocre yet unable to tank. Gave.

For a front office that spent an entire calendar year without making a single transaction making a two-way deal more meaningful than promoting Trent Forest, this is a jarring and remarkable achievement.

Let’s compare side by side. The original Murray trade sent three first-round picks, two of which are unprotected, and a pick swap to San Antonio; On Friday, the Hawks received two first-round picks and a former lottery pick in Daniels. Veteran big man Nance is in the deal as a salary match.

However, remember that one of those originally sent to San Antonio – a first-time lottery safe from Charlotte – has not yet expressed and is increasingly likely to turn into two second-round picks in 2026 and 2027. (This will happen if the Hornets miss the playoffs this year, as most expect).

The Hawks will be without their picks in 2025 and 2027 and will have to make a swap to the Spurs in 2026, by which time a Victor Wembanyama-led San Antonio team will be a powerhouse. Not great, Bob. We’ll come back to this part in a minute.

On the other hand, Atlanta gets back an unprotected Lakers pick in the 2025 draft that has a very strong chance of landing in the teens. The Hawks also receive an unprotected pick in 2027, though it’s less than New Orleans or Milwaukee.

However, the other pearl is Daniels, an up-and-coming defensive specialist who is joining a team that had the league’s 27th-ranked defense a season ago due to its tragic inability to stop the ball.

Daniels has two years left on a rookie deal that will pay him $6.1 million this year and $7.7 million next year. He has trouble shooting and didn’t really fit in in New Orleans as they had several other questionable shooters, but in Atlanta, he becomes a key piece that can begin to trouble noted matador Young.

The timing of this trade also allows the Hawks to recycle the $23 million John Collins trade exception for another year; Now it will be a “Murray exception” worth $18.2 million until next June 28 or 29. The Atlanta faithful will never again need to say the name “John Collins” when proposing any transaction. (I should note: There will be $6 million left on the Collins exception through July 8, if the Hawks hit the trade machine hard.)

Atlanta also has another “Leave Luxury Tax” banner hanging in the State Farm Arena rafters after their draft lottery triumph fell below the $6.3 million limit. The Hawks have 14 players under contract, but Nance’s addition would make Bruno Fernando’s non-guaranteed $2.7 million deal replaceable; His guarantee deadline is Saturday, so we’ll know soon.

I’m kidding about avoiding the luxury tax, but the additional financial control room opens up other possibilities for Atlanta. Signing Wit Krejci to a roster contract appears to be a foregone conclusion, but the Hawks may also consider a shorter deal for free-agent forward Saddiq Bey. He has a torn ACL and will likely miss most or all of this season, but his Bird rights remain intact next summer if the Hawks remain under contract through 2024-25.

More notably, Atlanta can now use its full non-taxpayer midtier exception to pursue other talent. Specifically, the backcourt could use another shot creator for non-young minutes.

Even without making any moves forward, the Hawks have quickly transformed themselves into a young team. Daniels, top overall pick Zachary Rishachar, 2023 first-rounder Kobe Bufkin and 2022 first-rounder Jalen Johnson — who were among the league’s most improved players last season — now look like core pieces.

Of course, I say all this as if the Hawks have made a deal. Are they? Clint Capela and De’Andre Hunter rumors have been around for ages, but the general consensus from league sources is that the Hawks can’t get a meaningful return for them.

And finally, there’s the elephant in the room. No discussion of Atlanta’s plight is complete without discussing the nuclear option: trading Young to San Antonio and trading back those picks, giving Atlanta an honest tanking reset around Rishaer, Johnson and Daniels going forward. Will allow to grow.

San Antonio is the only plausible trade partner for such a move, given that the Spurs currently have three straight Hawks draft picks. Conveniently, San Antonio is also in desperate need of an elite point guard and could easily amass a non-dominant salary (Devonte’ Graham, Zach Collins and Tre Jones) equal to Young’s $43 million salary. The fact that the Spurs have pushed back Graham’s guarantee date to July 8 surprises you, to say the least.

It’s much more difficult to turn Young into a tank by trading him to another team. Theoretically, Atlanta could also do “The Brooklyn Special” by trading the picks just acquired in the Murray trade to San Antonio to get their own picks back, but the Spurs would demand a higher premium than that in the additional first. Thus, unless the offers for Young are in Mikal Bridges territory — think first four or five — dealing Young elsewhere probably isn’t a good move for Atlanta.

So instead, it’s unquestionably Trae Young’s team once again… for now.

This time, at least, the pieces fit dramatically better. Let’s pause to thank Murray, who played (and played well) despite various injuries during the second half of last season, even though his name was in trade rumors and we knew he was probably gone in the summer. But there was no chemistry between him and Young, and asking Murray to guard the 2s diminished one of his former strengths.

Existential questions remain whether this roster can truly achieve anything beyond “first-round cannon fodder” – Atlanta’s record over the past four seasons is an unimpressive average 161-157. Rightly so, he got the top pick in the draft in a year where most rated the top pick as a helpful secondary weapon, but not a superstar. To the play-in we go!

Nonetheless, Friday was the best day since the formation of the reorganized front office under Landry Fields. Moving on from Murray, the Hawks have the flexibility to move in multiple directions with or without Young. (Don’t ignore the fact that they have now violated the Stepien Rule, for example, when making their first trade in 2026 or 2028.)

In doing so, they got a roster that was younger, cheaper, more consistent, and a better fit for their best player. We just don’t know how long that last part will remain in place.

(Top photo of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray: Kevin Jayaraj/USA TODAY)