The Atlanta Hawks surprised many people when they made the Eastern Conference Finals this season, upsetting the No. 1 seeded Philadelphia 76ers in the process. A large part of that has been the ascendance of Trae Young, and him taking on a huge portion of the offensive load. Trae Young showed his status as one of the top point guards in the league.
While the Hawks have a good squad right now, a potential route to improvement for the team would be to make a trade for another superstar to pair with Trae Young. Evan Cohen of SiriusXM Radio has recently stated that if there was a disgruntled superstar that was available for trade, that the Hawks would have the ability to trade for them no matter who it is. The names listed were Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, and Ben Simmons.
Could the Hawks make a play for Damian Lillard or Ben Simmons?
@EvCoRadio tells @hoopscritic why they’re in a position to acquire a big name talent #TrueToAtlanta pic.twitter.com/eaNF8OVRUi
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) August 15, 2021
They remind me of Denver from a few years ago, where Denver kind of hit on almost everyone who they drafted… There are guys that had to go, because they had too many guys and you couldn’t extend them all. It’s a good problem to have.
I feel like Atlanta will have that problem here coming up, so I think at any point that you’re thinking about superstars getting traded, the Atlanta Hawks are a team, if they so choose, could get any superstar in the league.
Any superstar in the league that asks out, if the Atlanta Hawks wanted that person, they could get him. I believe right now they could put a deal together to Portland for Dame, that Portland would say yes to if Dame were to ask out. Same applies to Washington for Bradley Beal if he were to ask out. They could get Ben Simmons in two seconds. They could get any single superstar in the league right now, it’s just whether or not it’s worth it.
There is no question that seeing Trae Young paired with another superstar would be amazing to watch, and that potential Hawks team would most likely be successful. The Atlanta Hawks have a great young core, and it is not a guarantee that they will make a superstar trade. However, if there were a superstar available, it seems as though the Hawks would have the ability to make a move.
