The Hawks will not sign star point guard Trae Young to an extension before the season begins, league sources tell Fred Katz and Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
The news doesn’t come as a surprise — Jake Fischer reported a couple months ago that the two sides weren’t expected to discuss an extension during the offseason. Katz and Vardon say the Hawks want to see how the new-look roster meshes before making a potential long-term commitment to the four-time All-Star.
Young admitted late last month that he was a little disappointed about entering training camp without an extension in place, but also said he was focused on the present and wouldn’t let the lack of a new deal be a distraction.
Young is coming off a 2024/25 season in which he played 76 games (36.0 minutes per contest) while averaging 24.2 points, a league-high 11.6 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals, with a shooting line of .411/.340/.875.
There’s no real urgency to extend Young from Atlanta’s perspective. While he could become an unrestricted free agent next summer if he declines his player option (worth about $49MM) for 2026/27, he will remain extension-eligible throughout the ’25/26 league year. Signing an in-season extension would also require Young to decline that option.
Whether they sign him to a rookie scale extension before Monday’s deadline or re-sign him as a restricted free agent in 2026, the Hawks feel good about their chances of retaining Most Improved Player winner Dyson Daniels, according to Katz and Vardon.
In other extension news, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 cautions (via Twitter) not to expect a rookie scale deal for Suns center Mark Williams. The former Duke big man has frequently been injured over his first three seasons, appearing in a total of just 106 games, and Phoenix appears likely to use ’25/26 to evaluate his fit after acquiring him in a summer trade with Charlotte.
Fischer reported last week that the Suns were considered unlikely to sign Williams to an extension. If no deal is reached, the 23-year-old would be a restricted free agent next summer, assuming he’s given a qualifying offer.
Trae Young is a true PG. One of the best right now , On Offense. Defensively he is weak. So weak the team has to add a defensive stud to play guard with him. Because of that. I don’t see how he is worth a max extension. Basketball is a 2way sport. Trae himself should know this. Yet when OneWay players like Luka get paid. Then why shouldn’t Trae get his. I would sign him for that 229 mill 4 yrs. I wait till next year. See how this team plays. Their starting 5 has real potential.
KP, Okongwu, Johnson, Trae, Dyson ….
Plenty of non-defenders get max contracts.
Trae should ask out.
Will trae win a ring in his career? Chime in
I think he is truly talented, especially as a playmaker, but it’s hard to see him leading a team to a championship. I think later in his career if he finds himself in a good situation as the number 2 he can
Not sure why you replied and then muted me. Anyway yes that is why I asked it. Probably not as a Hawk, but does he accept his role as a #2 or 3 somewhere and get a ring?
I didn’t mute you
Weird it won’t let me reply to your comments. Guess you saw it anyway
Nope. Note as a starter on max money. Not even as a starting role player.
But that question is pretty easy to answer in general. Odds are that most players will never win a ring. Especially 27-year-olds. Even good ones like Brunson or JJJ or Markkanen.
There’s only 1 ring to win each year, and those guys having 5-10 more years of career in them, there’s no way they have a 50% or higher chance to win one.
And the way the NBA is right now, you’d expect OKC to win about 2-4 of the next 8 titles, Denver can win one, San Antonio too, Boston and LAL are always there. Maybe another team in the East consolidates as the biggest favourite in their conference, making it to the finals most years, and thus giving itself decent chances to win one.
It doesn’t leave much room.
If you think of it not from “how good is this player?” point of view, but from the mathematical probability standpoint, that question is easy to answer.
And is Trae good enough to be attractive for a real contender? Not at all. Certainly not as a max player. A team that has Trae making 30-35% of the cap will not get far.
Great answer!
Not as the #1 option, no.
Trae was very very poor in the last preseason game against Houston. He masked his stats a little with some late buckets, but he was so bad out there. Just like he was in many games last season, with his TOs and bricked shots ruining the flow of his team.
Risacher looked very good, on the other hand. I think Atlanta are happy with who they picked after what he showed in the 2nd half of last season and going into this one.