Would you guys trade Trae Young for KAT straight up?

[kg01]

36 minutes ago, Afro said:

Triggered lol. The amount of people I had to argue with that had Bamba over JJJ was too damn high. 

Per my sources, a pretty frequent poster here wanted Bamba over Trae.  He's eaten a massive amount of crow on this already but I don't think it should ever be forgotten.  I'm not calling him out by name but .... I will say that I shower with him every day. 

[theheroatl]

No thanks

 

[JeffS17]

I should have figured this wouldn't actually generate any discussion on the fit / rosters.  As much as people have a disdain for KAT, other teams would likely feel the same way about Trae.  Very common for fan bases to focus on the negatives of opposing teams players and the positives of their own players.  I don't know what I expected posting the hypothetical lol

[Afro]

9 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Per my sources, a pretty frequent poster here wanted Bamba over Trae.  He's eaten a massive amount of crow on this already but I don't think it should ever be forgotten.  I'm not calling him out by name but .... I will say that I shower with him every day. 

God "Mo Bamba is better than everyone in this draft" seemed to be the most common take by the entire Hawks fanbase. It was maddening lol.

[Atlantaholic]

43 minutes ago, Sothron said:

I would not trade Trae for KAT but I would absolutely trade for KAT. He is a star player. He and Trae together on offense would be amazing. KAT's defense isn't anywhere as bad as people think it is either. Minn had a great defense just last season with him on it and did the season before as well.

KAT playing natural center again would be great.

I agree with you. For all of KATs issues and softness, he is still an absolutely ideal fit next to Trae Young offensively and by a country mile the best player we have ever paired him with, weeeeelll above DJM.

[akay]

27 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

I 100% would trade Trae Young for Embiid

Why? Trae's done better than Embiid in the playoffs already, and Embiids had way more help his whole career lol

14 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

I should have figured this wouldn't actually generate any discussion on the fit / rosters.  As much as people have a disdain for KAT, other teams would likely feel the same way about Trae.  Very common for fan bases to focus on the negatives of opposing teams players and the positives of their own players.  I don't know what I expected posting the hypothetical lol

Trae is gonna be in the HoF one day and KAT isn't. It's not a tough discussion

[MarylandHawk]

GTFOH with that. Lol 

[JeffS17]

21 minutes ago, akay said:

Trae is gonna be in the HoF one day and KAT isn't. It's not a tough discussion

I love the optimism! 

[Spud2nique]

30 minutes ago, Afro said:

God "Mo Bamba is better than everyone in this draft" seemed to be the most common take by the entire Hawks fanbase. It was maddening lol.

Well he tried to Luol Deng store front lie goods us. Remember he did his homework and he said he was the second coming of Deke.  

[macdaddy]

The Nuggets championship made me feel even better about our chances with Trae.   Yeah Jokic is better than Trae and gives you a lot of things in one player but offensively both players give you a lot of elite play.   Surround them with the correct players and you can do great things.   Trae will need more help than Jokic in that we have to have an all star level frontcourt player but we've seen that you don't need 3 superstars to win in this league anymore. 

In terms of fit I just don't see getting rid of elite players because you think the ok players fit better.   I know DJ was an all star with the Spurs but not sure if he's going to see another all star game.  And I"m not sure KAT has any better years in front of him.   So yeah i'm riding with Trae and find guys to get on board. 

[AHF]

46 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

I should have figured this wouldn't actually generate any discussion on the fit / rosters.  As much as people have a disdain for KAT, other teams would likely feel the same way about Trae.  Very common for fan bases to focus on the negatives of opposing teams players and the positives of their own players.  I don't know what I expected posting the hypothetical lol

I don't think you can win big with KAT as your best player and the roster you propose posits him being our best player.  I view Trae and KAT as being somewhat similar players (all offense) but KAT has only played more than 50 games once in the past 4 years which makes the idea of building around him as the team's best player unreasonably risky to me.  

The idea of pairing KAT and Trae offensively is very enticing but I'm not sure how different this hypothetical team would be versus what we saw of the T-Wolves in 2020-21 when they had KAT, DeAngelo Russell, Anthony Edwards, Naz Reid, Jared Vanderbilt, Ricky Rubio, etc. and they went 23-49.  I think our team would be better than that, but I'm not confident in how much better than that.

So I think there are some potential good fits to those pieces but I'd probably rather see that happen with a trade built around CC/DM or something than a Trae trade.   (While I think a lot more of KAT than some, I'm not sure I'm eager to see any version of the deal happen for what I think it would likely cost.)

[Gray Mule]

Some Squawk posters say "no way" to KAT.  Others say he fits great with Trae but we're trading Trae.

What if we trade Murray for KAT?  Opponent still gets their wanted PG.  If not KAT, who would you like?

I have a feeling that the dealing ain't done.  Maybe right away.  Maybe before the season opens.  Maybe at the trade deadline.  I don't suppose that there is any rush right now.  Some borderline players must move to make room for our new drafted players.  Perhaps some of them might be added to a trade to make the $$$ money work.

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

They are both second tier stars on max deals, both with notable flaws. 

I'll just say Trae has had more success getting his team into the playoffs than KAT has had as leaders of their squad.

[bleachkit]

6 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I'll just say Trae has had more success getting his team into the playoffs than KAT has had as leaders of their squad.

Fair point, Trae also has a fairly limited injury history as well, which is important. 

[Atlantaholic]

58 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

The Nuggets championship made me feel even better about our chances with Trae.   Yeah Jokic is better than Trae and gives you a lot of things in one player but offensively both players give you a lot of elite play.   Surround them with the correct players and you can do great things.   Trae will need more help than Jokic in that we have to have an all star level frontcourt player but we've seen that you don't need 3 superstars to win in this league anymore. 

In terms of fit I just don't see getting rid of elite players because you think the ok players fit better.   I know DJ was an all star with the Spurs but not sure if he's going to see another all star game.  And I"m not sure KAT has any better years in front of him.   So yeah i'm riding with Trae and find guys to get on board. 

The one thing it tells me is we need to get shooters around Trae. Period. Not news to me, it's obvious from our ECF what the recipe to success is with the team.

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, Atlantaholic said:

The one thing it tells me is we need to get shooters around Trae. Period. Not news to me, it's obvious from our ECF what the recipe to success is with the team.

Shooters and hungry vets like KCP and Gordon. 

[kg01]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I'll just say Trae has had more success getting his team into the playoffs than KAT has had as leaders of their squad.

Shocking how little value this has for all these folks that claim this sort of thing matters most. 

Guy has warts but there's a lot of "better" players that have similar warts minus any actual team success in the lead role. 

[AHF]

1 minute ago, kg01 said:

Shocking how little value this has for all these folks that claim this sort of thing matters most. 

Guy has warts but there's a lot of "better" players that have similar warts minus any actual team success in the lead role. 

Yeah, you see guys like LaMelo Ball and Tyrese Haliburton who have exactly 0 post-season wins and don't get knocked the way Trae does.  The great Ja Morant has 7 post-season wins compared to 12 for Trae (despite playing with teammates who would be in the playoffs without him).  Fox has been in the league longer and gets ranked above Trae on some PG lists but is still sitting at 3 wins and 0 series wins for his career.  It is a little suspect.

[kg01]

10 minutes ago, AHF said:

Yeah, you see guys like LaMelo Ball and Tyrese Haliburton who have exactly 0 post-season wins and don't get knocked the way Trae does.  The great Ja Morant has 7 post-season wins compared to 12 for Trae (despite playing with teammates who would be in the playoffs without him).  Fox has been in the league longer and gets ranked above Trae on some PG lists but is still sitting at 3 wins and 0 series wins for his career.  It is a little suspect.

Careful.  You gonna get branded as a Trae-pologist or the dreaded 'casual' if you keep that up.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

4 hours ago, Sothron said:

I would not trade Trae for KAT but I would absolutely trade for KAT. He is a star player. He and Trae together on offense would be amazing. KAT's defense isn't anywhere as bad as people think it is either. Minn had a great defense just last season with him on it and did the season before as well.

KAT playing natural center again would be great.

 

It's the kind of risk that I would 100% be willing to take.

People left Andrew Wiggins for dead while in Minnesota.  Golden State trades for him, and he becomes their 2nd most important player during their championship run last season.