Will Trae Young be next disgruntled star Knicks pursue in a trade?

After missing out on Donovan Mitchell last summer, the New York Knicks are still waiting with their treasure chest of draft picks for the next star to become available. Reportedly, New York is keeping a close eye on the Zach LaVine situation in Chicago, but in all honesty, even if he does become available, he isn’t a star that the Knicks should pursue.

There’s another All-Star that the Knicks should be monitoring, and ironically enough, that star is Trae Young. The 24-year-old guard is in his fifth year with the Hawks and although Atlanta is riding a four-game win streak entering Friday night’s game against New York, Young and his team have dealt with some drama this season.

After trading for Dejounte Murray over the summer, it was thought that the Hawks would be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, but that hasn’t been the case. Atlanta sits behind New York at No. 8 in the standings with a 23-22 record. There’s still half a season left, but the Hawks will have to fight to finish in the top six to avoid the play-in tournament.

Young is nearly averaging a double-double with a team-high 27.2 points and 9.8 assists in 40 games while shooting 42.4% from the field and 32.9% from three. If Atlanta is going to secure a playoff berth, it’s going to happen behind Young and Murray, who is averaging 20.6 points per game. However, if the Hawks miss the playoffs after making it the past two seasons, that could result in added tension within the organization.

Will Hawks’ Trae Young be next disgruntled star Knicks pursue in a trade?

In early December, Trae Young and Hawks coach Nate McMillan had a “miscommunication” that resulted in Young not showing up to State Farm Arena to watch Atlanta take on Denver. Young was dealing with a sore shoulder that he reportedly wanted to receive treatment for before deciding whether or not he was going to play, however, McMillan gave him the option to come off the bench or not show up for the game altogether.

Young spoke about the disagreement between him and McMillan and downplayed it, but it’s still odd that he chose to not support his team.

A few weeks after that happened, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported (subscription required) that McMillan has “strongly considered resigning from his position” as a result of the situation with Young. Hawks CEO Steve Koonin refuted that report, but McMillan responded to Charania’s report himself and said that he would consider retiring at the end of the 2022-23 season.

Clearly, something isn’t right. Along with that, Murray’s father sent out an eyebrow-raising tweet on Jan. 6 after the Hawks lost 130-114 to the Lakers.

He followed that up with:

As mentioned, things have been looking better for Atlanta recently. After beating the Mavericks 130-122 on Wednesday night behind Murray’s 30 points, Young tweeted:

As NBA fans know, though, things can change in an instant in this league. The drama that the Hawks have dealt with this season should have been enough to pique the interest of opposing front offices, including the Knicks. You can argue that Young wouldn’t be a good fit in New York if he were to want out of Atlanta, but regardless, the Knicks would inevitably be listed as a possible destination for him given their assets.

It would be absolutely twisted to see Trae Young of all players in New York, but crazier things have happened.

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