While it is still 29 days until the Feb. 5 NBA Trade deadline — and big trades tend to happen closer to that date — there is a lot of smoke and clearly some fire around a Trae Young trade to the Washington Wizards.

Washington is Young's preferred destination, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. That is new and it matters. Young is a fan favorite and has been the face of the franchise in Atlanta for more than seven years, the team will want to do right by him. The Hawks front office and Young’s agents have been collaborating to find Young a new team, and now the Wizards are the clear frontrunners. The fact that CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert — two players expected to be sent to Atlanta in a trade — are sitting out the Wizards game on Wednesday feels like a little more than a coincidence.

A trade of Young to Washington for McCollum and Kispert works under the cap.

What to watch is the draft picks attached to this trade. While the instinct for many would be to say Washington needs to add draft picks to this deal — they are getting a 27-year-old three-time All-Star in his prime, a guy who has averaged 25.2 points and 9.8 assists a game for his career — the opposite is true, league sources told NBC Sports. Washington can argue that they are sending out the expiring contract of McCollum to take on one more year of Young, who has a $48.9 million player option for next season, which he is expected to pick up. Washington will want to be compensated for taking on that extra salary, even though it has the cap space to do so, as Josh Robbins of The Athletic discussed on The Athletic NBA Daily podcast. There could be an exchange of draft picks, but don't expect the Wizards to send out better picks than they take back in the deal, which has been their modus operandi in the Jordan Poole trade and others.

The other thing to watch for is a contract extension. Young wants to be on a team where he has the ball in his hands and somewhere he could sign a longer-term extension (he's not a max player anymore, not in the world of NBA tax aprons, but he still would command considerably more than an average starter). Washington can put the ball in his hands, but it will want to wait to see how he meshes with the young players the franchise sees as part of the future — Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, Bub Carrington, Bilal Coulibaly — before it talks extension. Young would pick up his option and be playing for his next contract.

On offense, Young would be a natural fit. Sarr, who has taken a big step forward this season, averaging 17.5 points and 7.8 rebounds a game, should thrive with Young as a pick-and-roll partner. Plus, Young's gravity and passing would get Johnson, George and others plenty of better, cleaner looks in the halfcourt. On top of all that, this is a team that wants to get out and run, and Young's passing and style of play fit well with that.

On the other end of the court, Washington has the 29th-ranked defense in the NBA right now and Young is not going to help that.

What Young gives the Wizards is someone fans will pay to see, someone who should make their offense entertaining and will win them some games (and maybe get them in the play-in a year from now) — all without giving up anyone they see as a core part of their future. It's low risk. And if Young clicks with the existing core, the Wizards can always extend him.