'Trae-de Young': What does it mean for Dyson Daniels

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Trading Trae Young means one thing for Dyson Daniels — he has won the starting point guard role for the Atlanta Hawks.

Speculation All-Star Young, in his prime, is on the trading block continues to grow as the February 6, 2026 (AEDT) deadline looms.

Daniels, 22, took over the one-spot when Young went down with a knee injury earlier in the season. He is averaging 11.5 points per game (48.8%), 6.5 rebounds and 5.7 assists. The Hawks went 13-9 without Young and are now 2-8 with the scoring point guard.

He's given the Hawks confidence he can be the permanent shot creator and facilitator for the Eastern Conference franchise.

ESPN's NBA Insider Brian Windhorst said on his latest podcast: "The Atlanta Hawks are an interesting team right now, they have lost six games in a row, they have fallen completely into the play in zone in the Eastern Conference, they've gone from several games over .500 to several games under.

"I don't know how to say this other than it coincides with Trae Young returning from that knee injury."

Podcast guest Tim McMahon added: "the other thing here is, the Hawks certainly are indicating that they're looking for the exit ramp with Trae Young.

"They did not make any attempt to get him signed to an extension when that's the case with your face of the franchise, that's a pretty clear message that the end could be near and and we've talked about this a lot with Trae, this the same as true with Ja Morant in Memphis and with LaMelo Ball in Charlotte, that if they if there's an attempt to trade these guy it's not going to be easy.

"There's not going to be some wide array of teams raising their hand and trying to get in on the bidding and I'm not sure you're even going to be able to make a trade that's going to bring value in return."

Ironically, a potential trade target is Anthony Davis from the Dallas Mavericks. Davis was part of the stunningly stunning trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Doncic was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks with the No3 overall pick in 2018 and subsequently traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Young on draft night.

Atlanta was a far better defensive team with Young out for more than a month.

"If you look at the Hawks roster, the theory of the Hawks is pretty clear right," Tim Bontemps said.

"They want to have long rangy, athletic players at every position and pretty much all the moves they've made have been geared towards doing that.

"When Trey wasn't playing they were rolling out there with a lineup with Nickeil Alexander Walker, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu and Zaccharie Risacher, last year's No. 1 overall pick.

"Those guys all are long, rangy, athletic players and they don't have a ton of size, they've struggled on the boards at times, they're not a perfect team, they struggled in the half court offensively, they had a pretty rough offensive half court numbers but there was a theory of what that group looked like.

"Trae doesn't fit in that vision at all and when you look at the modern league and the amount of physicality that is going on in these games and we've talked about the emphasis on offensive rebounding and just the size the teams are playing with across the board.

"So the question is, is there a path to getting him elsewhere that can allow them to pivot in a direction where they can focus on the way they've been building this team, which is in a vision of guys that frankly don't fit Trae's profile.

"There's not a lot of teams that need point guards and there's not a lot of places where you go 'Yeah this team is anxious to go trade for a 45 million dollar guy, which is the same part of why Anthony Davis's trade market is impacted and all these other guys that are potentially on the market might not be going anywhere."

Is a trade for Anthony Davis realistic?

"I don't know where the destination would be like Minnesota would like to upgrade it point guard," McMahon said.

"but I don't know if there's a deal that makes sense for the Wolves just making the problem is the salary just making the salary match is going to be tough and like I can just tell you the Mavericks would like to work out a deal to send.

"Anthony Davis to Atlanta but Trae Young's not going to be part of that they (Dallas) wanna move forward with Kyrie Irving as their point guard and you're not gonna play those two guys together."

Bontemps said the salary cap and Young's 2026-27 player option were no in play.

"You have to operate under the assumption with options, that people will do the thing that's in their best interest," he said.

"And as of today it's hard for me to sit here and see Trae Young doing anything other than picking up an option for 2026-27 for almost $49 million."

If Young signs for his player option, it would soak up about a third of the whole salary cap.

"Well I just you can't have a guy making 30% of the cap, who has that sort of effect, you know whether it's his fault or or it's circumstances or whatever and so that's well
and in reality," Windhorst said.

The biggest issue with Davis is injuries. He's barely played for the Mavericks since the trade, which has compounded the frustration of Mavs fans. The Luka-AD trade cost general manager Nico Harris his job.

"He's still an extraordinarily impactful player," McMahon said of Davis.

"I mean he's a walking double double and still one of the best defensive bigs in the league. (But) he's entering his mid 30s and very expensive now, wants to continue to be very expensive, with more guaranteed years, it's a complicated trademark, and the other thing is you know, the Mavericks are sitting here,
they gave up a perennial first team All-NBA player entering his prime to get this guy."

And therein lies the problem. Any trade for Davis now will compound the Mavericks fans hurt over losing Doncic and Davis being traded away within a year without playing any meaningful minutes.

As history has shown in the NBA, where there is a will there's a way but the Trae Young trading the darling of their franchise at the deadline will be a tough task.

There'a ways the US summer.