Interesting team emerges as betting favorite to land Trae Young via trade

Trae Young is one of the most electric superstars in the NBA today, but his time with the Atlanta Hawks has been a mixed bag.

Aside from one fleeting run in 2020-21 when the Hawks made it to the Eastern Conference finals, they’ve largely been underwhelming.

Not even the offseason acquisition of Dejounte Murray has done much to change Atlanta’s fortunes. They are still 17-16 and sit seventh in the East.

All of which makes a recent report about Young possibly being the next big superstar to be traded all the more intriguing.

“Rival executives in attendance at the NBA’s annual G League Winter Showcase are of the belief that Atlanta Hawks star point guard Trae Young could be the next player on a rookie max extension to request a trade if the team doesn’t make inroads come postseason time,” Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report noted recently.

Who are the legit suitors for Young’s services at the moment? Oddsmakers seem to see it as a three-team race between the Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics.

“According to SportsBetting.ag, the Mavs have the top odds of being Young’s next team at +250. The Miami Heat are second at +350, and the Boston Celtics are third at +400,” via Dalton Trigg of Sports Illustrated.

Young is as gifted a distributor as there is in the NBA, but shooting-wise, he has struggled with his consistency in 2022-23. His field-goal percentage is 41.5 percent, and he's shooting 31.1 percent from three — both career lows.

Young has also displayed a tendency to rub his teammates the wrong way. However, if the Hawks decide to put him on the market, multiple teams will want him.

Which one of the Mavs, Heat or Celtics will be the one that actually ends up with him, though?