Washington has a young core with potential. Alex Sarr is starting to break out in his second season, plus Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, Bub Carrington and the two-way potential of Bilal Coulibaly. What the Wizards lacked was an elite offensive player to tie it all together.

Enter Trae Young.

As has been rumored for days, the Atlanta Hawks have agreed to trade Young to Washington for CJ McCollum and wing Corey Kispert, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN and since confirmed by others. It felt meaningful that McCollum and Kispert were held out of the Wizards game on Wednesday, but the trade happened mid-game with Young saying his goodbyes to teammates in the arena.

Now Young gets to go to his preferred destination in Washington, while Atlanta gets to move on.

Young exits Atlanta, where he has been the face of the franchise since they traded for him on draft night more than seven years ago. He has been an entertaining fan favorite who averaged 25.2 points and 9.8 assists a game for the team and was a three-time All-Star. Young led the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, only the second time the franchise had made it that far.

The writing was on the wall for Young's exit last summer when Atlanta chose not to extend his contract, instead opting to see how he looked with a revamped, healthy roster built to maximize his skill set. The reality is the Hawks have been better without him — they are 2-8 in the 10 games he has played and 15-13 in the games he has missed. It became clear that the Hawks were ready to pivot to a roster built around length and athleticism, featuring Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and others.

The decision for Young to move on was mutual, and his agents at CAA were working with the Hawks to find a trade that worked for everyone. Washington was his preferred destination.

For the Hawks, they get a player who can still get a bucket in McCollum, who is averaging 18.8 points a game this season, but also has a $30.7 million expiring contract. McCollum can help in the short term, while Kispert — a sharpshooting 6'6" wing hitting 39.5% from 3 point range this season, averaging 9.2 points a game — who will blend right into the Hawks rotation.

For Washington, they get a box office draw and someone for fans to rally around, an All-Star level offensive player who can lead their team on the court — and they gave up almost nothing. How much we see of Young the rest of this season is up for debate, however, as Washington owes its pick to New York but it is top-eight protected. Washington doesn't want to start winning too much all of a sudden and lose their pick in a deep draft with some potential franchise cornerstones at the top. The Wizards would currently enter the lottery with the No. 4 pick and are not going to want that to change too much.