It felt like time. Trae Young was in his eighth season in Atlanta and things felt stagnant. This was a team — and Young was a player — in need of a change, and while it wasn’t always smooth, the team worked with Young and he was traded to the Washington Wizards.
At least, that was how it looked from the outside.
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It’s not entirely how Young saw things. Young sat down with his friend and Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. on his YouTube channel and said that, for him, things really started to change when Travis Schlenk was removed as the Hawks president of basketball operations and that job went to Onsi Saleh (hat tip Josh Robbins at The Athletic).
“I love the owner, Tony (Ressler), and all the ownership group and everybody down there. So I have much love to a lot of people down there in Atlanta, so I never wanted to leave [in] a bad way. But once we got on that third GM, and we brought in Onsi, it’s like you don’t necessarily feel as comfortable as you did [when] you got there…
“There are so many things I won’t say until later on, but sometimes it’s just better just to let things go.”
Schlenk was all in on Young from the start. He made a draft-night trade of Luka Doncic for Young and always kept Young at the heart of any future plans in Atlanta. Onsi didn’t see it that way and reconstituted a team around Jalen Johnson and a formidable defense, and that had Atlanta going 20-6 after the All-Star break and looking like a potential threat in the East heading into this season.
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“I’ve never worked in another job, but I’m sure it’s like this in other jobs where if a new boss is hired, if the new CEO comes in, if a new GM comes in, he’s gonna want to bring in his people,” said Young. “He may make some cuts. He may move some people here and there. He’s gonna figure out who he likes. So, obviously, this was my third GM. You know what I’m saying? Like, it’s different…
“And so when we brought our third one, we all knew around me that it’s either we’re going to be around here for the long haul and we win or it may be time for everybody to just part their ways.”
So they parted their ways. Young got what he most wanted out of this, a four-year, $213 million contract extension, a deal that left the rest of the league shaking its head at the unnecessary overpay (and the kind of extension Atlanta was not going to give him). Maybe Young works well next to a young Atlanta core with No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa and big man Alex Sarr — plus Anthony Davis is on the Wizards now, too. It’s an interesting team.
Atlanta has moved on and had one of the more underrated, strong offseasons. Young and Saleh may not have been on the same page, it was time to part ways, but Saleh has helped Atlanta find a needed new identity and direction.
Young was ultimately right, it was “time for everybody to just part their ways.”
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