Could the Hawks pull off a blockbuster move by trading for Kevin Durant - and make themselves into Eastern Conference contenders?
The Atlanta Hawks have already had a pretty eventful summer. They've added good rotation pieces to the roster in Dyson Daniels and Larry Nance Jr, traded away former All-Star guard Dejounte Murray, drafted Zaccharie Risacher with the first overall pick, re-signed Vit Krejci on a long-term deal and signed Summer League standout Keaton Wallace to a two-way contract.
When acquiring Murray from the Spurs ahead of the 2022-23 season, the Hawks sent out unprotected first-round picks in the 2025 and 2027 drafts. They also sent a first-round pick swap in the 2026 draft. Essentially, the Hawks do not have control over their own first-round pick for the next three seasons. As a result, it doesn't really make a lot of sense for them to go through a rebuild by bottoming out unless they get a massive haul of picks in a Young trade.
Trading Durant is more complex than it sounds. He's still a very good player, averaging 27.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and five assists on a true shooting percentage of 62.6% across 75 games. However, he is going to turn 36 years old before the upcoming season. It's just not reasonable to expect that he'll be close to the player who won 2 Finals MVPs with the Warriors or went toe-to-toe with the Milwaukee Bucks during their 2021 championship run.
Phoenix Suns get: Bogdan Bogdanovic, Andrew Wiggins, 2025 1st round pick , 2025 1st round pick If the Hawks truly believe in Trae Young as their franchise player who can take them to the NBA Finals, surrounding him with a wing duo of Kevin Durant and Jalen Johnson is an excellent way to test that theory. Durant is one of the most portable players in the NBA - he's essentially a super-size version of Bogdanovic's skillset.
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