Trae Young Exits Hawks Game Early Traded Washington Wizards

WATCH: Trae Young traded to the Wizards, says goodbye to Hawks teammates, exits arena mid-game

The Atlanta Hawks officially pulled the plug on the Trae Young era on Wednesday, and they did it in about as surreal a fashion as possible.

According to Shams Charania of ESPN, the Hawks have traded Trae Young to the Washington Wizards in exchange for guard CJ McCollum and forward Corey Kispert.

Trae Young traded to the Washington Wizards

Trae Young being traded would have made headlines, but the timing was even better

The news broke in the middle of Atlanta’s home game against the Pelicans. Young, sidelined with a quad injury, was sitting on the bench when word got out.

Cameras caught him shaking hands, hugging staffers, and eventually walking into the tunnel while fans filmed what turned out to be his final moments as a Hawk.

Franchise cornerstones do not usually get traded like role players, especially not during a live game, but that’s exactly what happened here.

Trae Young exits mid-game after being traded to the Wizards

For Atlanta, this move has been brewing for a while.

Young, 27, has been the face of the franchise since he was drafted in 2018. He made four All-Star teams, led the league in assists in 2025, and carried the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021.

This season marked a clear shift in direction, with Jalen Johnson’s emergence, along with the development of ball-handlers like Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. That made Trae Young feel less central to Atlanta’s long-term vision.

Even with Young missing significant time due to knee and quad issues, the Hawks hovered around .500. At 17–21 and sitting 10th in the East, Atlanta clearly decided that the ceiling with Young as the centerpiece had been reached.

To their credit, the Hawks did right by him.

Reports earlier this week indicated that Washington was Young’s preferred destination, and Atlanta sent him exactly where he wanted to go.

Given how unhappy Young had reportedly been over the last several months, this was about as clean and respectful a breakup as you’ll see in the NBA.

For Washington, this is a swing for the future. The Wizards are 10–26 and going nowhere fast in the short term, but Young gives them something they’ve lacked for years, in a legitimate offensive engine.

He’s averaging elite numbers when healthy, carries a $46 million salary this season, and has a $49 million player option for 2026–27. The Wizards will almost certainly try to lock him up long-term and build around his 20-point, 10-assist upside.

Back in Atlanta, the emotional impact was felt immediately. Kristaps Porzingis, who is in his first season with the Hawks, didn’t hide his disappointment.

“I was getting open looks all the time,” Porzingis said after the game, noting how much he benefited from Young’s playmaking. He even dropped a fitting pun, calling Young “really a wizard” with the ball.

Bars…

Despite losing their best passer, Atlanta isn’t suddenly becoming a stagnant offense. The Hawks still lead the NBA in assists per game and assist rate, which speaks to the system they’ve built.

Still, there’s no replacing what Trae Young brought to the table, both statistically and symbolically. This marks the end of an era, wrapped in a bizarre mid-game goodbye that felt more like a movie scene than an NBA transaction.

For Atlanta, it’s a reset. For Washington, it’s a gamble. For Trae Young, it’s a fresh start that arrived faster and stranger than anyone could have imagined.

I will always remember Trae Young for this moment in Sixers history

Nothing but pain….

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