Trae Young appears to be on his way out of Atlanta. And the Miami Heat’s longstanding interest in swinging a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo will be much better off because of it.
According to Marc Stein of the Stein Line, Young has “been in communication in recent days with Hawks general manager Onsi Saleh and is aware of Atlanta's on-going efforts to canvas the trade market” for his services. The tenor of this reporting follows an age-old blueprint, essentially implying, if not subtly confirming, that Atlanta’s four-time All-Star will finish the season elsewhere.
These rumblings mean one of two things: Either the Hawks are gearing up to acquire Anthony Davis from the Dallas Mavericks, or they are reorienting their roster around soon-to-be All-Star Jalen Johnson.
Regardless of which path they travel, the Heat’s dreams of landing Giannis just received a major boost.
The Heat have now have one less competitor for Giannis
Atlanta is routinely mentioned among the most interesting destinations for Giannis. It’s not hard to see why. The Hawks will receive the most favorable of the Milwaukee Bucks’ and New Orleans Pelicans’ first-round pick this coming June. They also own the less favorable first-rounder from Milwaukee and New Orleans in 2027. The prospective trade package builds itself.
This theorizing falls by the wayside if the Hawks end up with Davis. He will cost some, albeit not all, of the assets they’d throw into the Giannis pot. More than that, having him and Johnson eliminates the mystique of acquiring Antetokounmpo. The Bucks are not going to have interest in an aging AD, and Atlanta hasn’t shown any signs it’s willing to trade Johnson.
There is a chance that jettisoning Trae signals more of a rebuild in Atlanta than the lead-up to another blockbuster. That benefits the Heat, too.
The Hawks are a cleaner fit for Giannis without Davis, but they’re not going to mortgage huge swathes of the future for someone who just turned 31 and is up for an extension this summer if they’re leaning into a wholesale recalibration.
Do not underestimate the significance of this development, particularly when it’s contextualized against Miami’s other small victories.
Miami’s shot at Giannis is growing stronger by the day
League sources have also told Marc Stein that they don’t expect other presumed Giannis suitors to put their best foot forward if he becomes available. The report specifically name-checks the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Houston Rockets as squads who have shown no appetite for a Giannis trade.
All three of these squads have more desirable best-possible packages than the Heat. The same goes for Atlanta.
Remove the Hawks, Thunder, Rockets, and Spurs from the table, and Miami is sitting as pretty as possible.
Very few of the remaining realistic suitors can meaningfully outbid them. The Golden State Warriors have more firsts to offer, but matching salary gets dicey. The New York Knicks can’t trade a single first-round pick until the summer. The Cleveland Cavaliers can’t trade both Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen in the same deal so long as they’re over the second apron.
With the Hawks ostensibly out of the picture, the Giannis landscape is now one in which the Heat can easily hang. They will even have insight into Tyler Herro’s trade value if Young winds up getting moved.
Granted, the calculus changes if Giannis remains in Milwaukee through the season. Competition for his services will get fierce over the summer. From the sound of things, though, that competition won’t feature Atlanta—not now, not later. And that is, in no uncertain terms, a massive win for the Heat.