(Photo via Imagn Images)
Ahead of the upcoming February 5 trade deadline, the newest polarizing star to evidently be added to the market is Atlanta Hawks’ point guard Trae Young.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Hawks and Young are working together on a trade prior to that upcoming deadline. It is unclear yet just how many teams have legitimate interest in bringing the four-time All-Star aboard. However, Miami Heat fans on social media have already begun discussing a potential fit with Young in South Beach.
The 27-year-old is in the midst of a down year, currently averaging 19.3 points and 8.9 assists on just 42% shooting and 31% from 3-point range. He’s also dealt with injuries for most of this season— appearing in just 10 games so far. The drop in his statistical numbers could be impacted by injury or Young’s desire to be traded after failing to reach a contract extension with Atlanta. It could even be a little bit of both.
Last season, Young averaged 24.2 points and a league-high 11.6 assists across 76 games played.
No matter what the case is in regard to his stats dipping this year, he is still one of the greatest passers in the entire association.
Young is also a proven playoff riser in the beginning of his prime years. And he is more than capable of elevating a team looking to contend. He led the Hawks to an Eastern Conference finals berth back in 2021.
If (big if) the Miami Heat have interest in Trae Young, he would be a legitimate playmaker in the team’s offense.
The Heat haven’t had a true point guard in a very long time. Goran Dragic and Kyle Lowry, even at their best during their time in Miami, were both far from Young’s abilities. As the reigning NBA assists leader, Young is a proven elite playmaker that any team would reap the benefits from.
Having Young setting up Kel’el Ware and Bam Adebayo with pitch-perfect lob passes would be a delight to watch on a nightly basis.
He could unlock an entire new level to what has already been an impressive improvement within Miami’s offense this season. But would Pat Riley and the Heat front office consider such an acquisition for the disgruntled star?
Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson doesn’t think so, but isn’t ruling it out if the price is right.
“For those asking about Young/Heat, in the past there has been strong sentiment against pursuing if he became available. There are many deterrents despite his offensive gifts: 1). Poor defense. 2). Dubious impact on winning. 3). Wants big contract that would make it difficult to build good team around him. 4) Now dealing with injuries. Saving assets for Giannis bid would be wiser. Unless Hawks settle for essentially nothing of value in return; then you could make case.”
— Barry Jackson/X
What would it take to get a deal done with the Hawks?
Financially, a Tyler Herro headlining deal could get it done. Perhaps Atlanta and Miami could agree to each swap two injury stricken former All-Star guards that are due to get paid, in hopes of a fresh start and new fit for both of them.
Herro has had an injury riddled 2025-26 campaign of his own, but is still putting up strong scoring and efficiency numbers. However, his assists per game have dipped from a career-high 5.5 assists last year to just 2.4 this season— that figure is his worst since Herro’s rookie year. Inserting Young’s much better passing ability while providing similar, if not better offense as Herro is intriguing.
It would be an upgrade for Miami, especially with Norman Powell’s scoring having a bit of redundancy to what’s been a clunky fit between him and Herro in the backcourt.
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From ESPN on what each team needs and who might help.
Biggest need: Rebounding. Even though the Heat have ranked far better in defensive rebounding, the first month of the season should serve as a warning. Miami had the second-worst defensive rebound percentage in the first 15 games of the season. Through Monday, the Heat rank sixth in most second-chance points allowed by their opponents, as well.
Player they could target: Considering their finances ($1.6 million below the luxury tax) and lack of tradeable second-round picks, New Orleans’ Karlos Matkovic is a fit who might not cost the Heat much in a trade. Out of the rotation this season and on an expiring $2.2 million contract (he has a team option next season), Matkovic has 20 games of at least six rebounds this season and last. — Marks
And then on trade machine, this is successful…
Herro and Simone for Zion and Matkovic.
I believe I recently proposed that trade. I also proposed Herro straight up for Dejounte Murray and a few other variations.
No risk…no reward.
Thats a Croatian player, played in Slovenia, before went in NBA. Solid offensive player, but not a very good defender and rebounder. He is also not strong enough. More off finesse power forward/center then strong and bulky center/forward. And of course, he is white.
Thanks
Trae gone to the Wiz already. I share Matt Hanifan’s post. I don’t like Young in Miami. I was surprised this article came up. Hawks fans still can’t get over that Luka-Trae exchange.
watching gsw milw gsw pretty healthy there up 17 on a bad milw team.greek wont be there to much longer there not close to challenging
It’s the one best case scenario we could hope for. The Bucks would take some talent away and some draft picks, but there is no better path for us to win now. Zion would also work, but not sure he will get moved. I do think Giannis is leaving also. We would be pretty fortunate to get him though as there are closer teams to a championship than us who want him and also teams with more to offer. It’s more of a hopeful dream than a realistic one.
of course all chances to get great players are hopeful miami is a very international city.no state inc tax.be the next d wade.warm weather similar to athens.play for riley and top 15 .no chris middleton dame jru.we will be in the mix pat usually is when whales become avail.but what team wouldnt want a great player.hopefully greek has miami on his radar.usually management will ask great player give me a few places youd like to go to and then it might come to best package for the bucks.knicks are the front runner miami is in the top 5
trae for cj mccollum kispert
Wiz just traded cj McCollum and kispert for trae young.
There is something very wrong with Bam.
Adebayo, who is in an offensive slump, finished last night’s game with just 7 points on 3-11 shooting. Adebayo hasn’t finished with 20 points in a game since December 15 against the Toronto Raptors.
The Heat struggled both offensively and defensively throughout the night. At one point in the night, the team was 16-48 on shots inside the paint.
Bam is scheduled to make $49.8M next year, $53.8M in 2027-2028 and $57.8M in 2028-2029 (a player option year).
Note: Trae Young is scheduled to make $49M next year (a player option year).
hate to say it but bams shots are looking very rozierish.not even close and hes fn blowing tip ins.somethings going on with bam maybe the captain wants to captain another ship.
So let’s be clear about it. Are you saying that he is missing shots on purpose, or are you saying that he’s just been pretty bad lately?
im not sure to be honest either r u or anybody.it seems his misses are so off that it could be hes frustrated and wants out possibly..hes missing ez tip ins never seen bam miss this bad this much.hes getting decent looks but missing wide right(gocanes).in his time here ive never seen him play this bad hes to good of a player to look like this.somethings up with bam its more than just missing shots i believe.
You are a real conspiracy theorist. Maybe he is just having second thoughts about getting married. That would be distracting to anyone.
that is def true rc.my wife just about had to put a gun to my head to get married lol.was to old to have kids so why the f get married $$
somethings on his mind i would say
His girlfriend maybe the culprit? lol
aja might be able to play in nba shes best player in wnba
he wants to go to wash thats good news
Yes, and that is surprising but, actually the Wizards are on the upturn and have won a few games lately. And their roster has made quite a transition over the last two years, one that you and I would approve of. Funny how that often works out.
I remember Philadelphia doing the same thing five years back. Yes, injuries have plagued them but look out for them this year as Embiid is playing more often. When Philly plays us, if they are healthy, it will look like Minnesota last night. And maybe the same thing will happen against Washington. Just something to look ahead at…
no athleticism on team thats unheard of in 2025.keshads prob the only guy and hes stuck on he bench.char and wash are improving we are staying at the same level post jimmy maybe a jjj tick above last years team.pat will pull a deal or two just have to be patient
Washington has been stuck in the depths of hell for several years. As a result, they have had 5 lottery picks, 4 additional first round picks and 4 second round picks since 2019. Miami has had 1 lottery pick (Herro in 2019), 5 additional first rounders and 2 second rounders since then.
last time they were good was wall and beale a good decade ago.feel sorry for their fans.under pats watch weve been relevant every year except a few.sports is cyclical
Yes, but the last three years we were not really part of the chase either. This never tanking mantra that the Heat take so much pride in, is a little over glorified when your ceiling is a first round exit. If we didn’t fleece the Clippers, we’d be a lottery team right now. And we can’t depend on fleecing teams to keep trending in the midrange.
This never tanking and only getting mid level picks, is not a winning philosophy in the short or long term. I’m not sure we wouldn’t be better off with a tank. A good, well conducted tank, can yield an exciting contender in three years at best, four more likely, if you just do a reasonably solid job of drafting and writing contracts.
Unless something great falls into our lap, we may be at least two years from contention right now, and that’s only if we make some really savvy moves going forward.
It’s hard to tank with spo as a coach, we should’ve tanked last year. Im not saying we should tank every year like other teams, but if we know we ain’t funna be that good, then we should tank. We can’t be on top forever. We will likely have to wait until the rozier situation is solved until we make any improvements, if hornets gave us our pick back, it would unlock our other picks, so we can actually make a good to decent trade, so probably gotta wait until he expires, and fonzi too for cap relief. Try to trade herro. Get us a free agent next season.
I predict the future will be brighter for the Wizards, and starting soon. They paid their dues the way you have to. But, they made some poor draft decisions that prolonged their pain. That seems to be changing, as we appear to be just at the start of their comeback to relevance.
u know 30 cant stay on top forever and for the most part cant stay on bottom forever.mediocrity is where we seem to be post jimmy he was such a baller .so whats our next move i hate total rebuilds and suking for years.i think a good gm can get us headed upwards
If a GM always has mid or late round first round picks, and is hamstrung by the salary cap penalties that exist these days, it won’t matter how good he is.
not all stars high picks jimmy kawhi joker greek .just gotta be tom brady lucky
Or at least not Justise/Booker, Precious/Maxey painfully unlucky.
rc he got us wade he gets lifetime pass,look at our football team since shula.that pass is starting to wear out though with above gaffs u mentioned.ware bam jjj ware good not great picks maybe ware could be great.until pat gets us a dwade type player we will bitch and moan cause we like parades id like to shake rcs hand one day and play him one on one on pat riley ct. hes prob the better poster but i think i can take him one on one.i dont think his dunc d would be able to handle my dav quickness
It sounds more like two old fogeys reliving their “glory days.” BTW, I can score with either hand (and I’m talking hoops there!), and have a crossover move I would have to dust off. But, I have to admit, I don’t got much hops, don’t get much air.
If I try to slide to my left to offset his Hardaway like crossover, I’ll probably need a hip replacement.
dont worry ill use my dav crossover but just pass it to 30 and not even try to get the ez layup
score with either hand glad u clarified that