Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young contract extension negotiations, salary cap, luxury tax, NBA Cup, and more

Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young contract extension negotiations, salary cap, luxury tax, NBA Cup, and more

On today’s show, a posts summer league look at the finances for the Hawks and their roster, plus the latest news. And of course, Trey Young’s extension eligible. Talk about the latest on that and more coming up. You are Locked on Hawks, your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast, part of the Locked Onet. Your team every day. Hello friends, welcome to episode 2026 of the Lock on Hawks podcast. I am your host Brad Rolling coming to you on a Monday evening into Tuesday. And I want to encourage you at the top of the show as I always do to make Locked on Hawks your first listen each and every day. Check us out and subscribe to the show anywhere you find your podcasts. We’re on Apple. We’re on Spotify. We’re also on YouTube. So please like this video as you are watching it. And be sure to spread the word about the show by telling your friends and your colleagues and your family about the podcast. I appreciate all the support and we’ll be uh kind of diving in now to the posts summer league landscape for the Hawks. I’ll have guests lined up as well. But today kind of a news catchup some topics that have been bubbling under the surface the last couple weeks while games were happening and transactions were happening in summer league etc. And we will get to Trey Young’s extension talks later on in the podcast. But first, I think it was kind of time after a bunch of questions that I got for an overall look at the money, the finances, the salary cap, the luxury tax situation for the Hawks. Um, because there’s lots of questions about like what they can still do, what they’re allowed to do, where they are with their money, and that does that stuff does matter. So, I always give this caveat, but I know that it would be nice in some ways if the money didn’t matter, but it just does in the NBA. This is a capdriven league in a lot of ways. There’s lots of minations and exceptions and ceilings and aprons, all these things you have to navigate. And I understand that people don’t want to always dive all the way into it. I try to do the nerdy stuff on occasion rather than all the time, but it matters and the Hawks have some interesting stuff to discuss. So, in the last couple weeks, some of the details rolled in number one on the Nquil Alexander Walker contract and every breakdown the actual contract when it was signed, sealed, delivered, and entered in the into the NBA database for it’s now available to be seen. It’s a total value on Alexander Walker for his contract of four years and about $60.6 million. That was roughly what was uh also reported. It was kind of in that range anyway. But the interesting part about this is that he actually starts a little bit higher, then goes down and goes back up. So in year one, it’s about 15.16 million. Then it goes down to 14.4 million in the second year, which is 2627. Then back up to that 15.65.16 $15.16 million range in year three which is 2728 and that’s followed by the widely reported player option in 2829 for about $15.9 million. If you recall, I initially thought that the Hawks might might just sign Alexander Walker outright without having to trade for him given that um the total value was that was reported could have fit in the middle exception, but this structure meant that they actually had to trade for him, which they did do, and give up a small asset to do so because he makes more than the mid-level actually was allowed to make in year one of the contract. Then it goes down and then back up again. So, why would the Hawks do this? Well, there’s lots of reasons, but you know, I would say for flexibility reasons, they know for one example, probably the most prominent example, Dyson Daniels is going to be making a lot more money next year than he is going to be coming on this coming season. So, some extra wiggle room. It’s only like $2 million extra room, but still that matters on the whole uh team building exercise. You got uncertainty with Trey Young. We’ll talk about later on in this podcast. Um, all that said, there’s some value in having it start a little bit higher this year and then go down and then back and then back up again. But the overall analysis of my contract, by the way, on Nquille is that it’s a good contract for a good player. He will never actually make even 10% of the cap, which is a very valuable contract for a top seven guy on your roster, which is what he is. Buls basically have seven starters on their team. Last year’s starting five, plus Porzingis and Alexander Walker are all those those guys are all starting caliber players. and to have any of them locked into a non- rookie deal for less than 10% of the cap is a good idea. And that’s where that’s where actually where he is right now. In fact, at the end, it’s going to be like 8 and a half% of the cap, which is a very appetizing particular if he could kind of just hold up his value, not even improve, just kind of be the guy he’s been the last two years would be more than enough to uh kind of provide value on that contract. Anyway, from there, I realized I hadn’t talked about that yet, so I wanted to leave with that. But as far as like where things stand, I I will answer a bunch of questions kind of in this answer, not necessarily one at a time, but um as far as where the overall money stands for this purpose, I’m actually going to include and in pencil the league minimum for Caleb Houston. If you missed it, I did a podcast on Caleb Houston’s reported signing at the end of last week. Also on yesterday’s show, I worked on Katon Wallace’s resigning with the Hawks. That one is actually official. Caleb Houston is not official at this moment, plus the latest from summer league and all that. So, let’s listen to those shows for sure. Um, but just to put it out there, I am penciling in Houston for the minimum on his contract if you include him. The Hawks have 14 guys under their standard NBA contracts and they add up to about $184.68 million for this year. Then they have, of course, the three two ways. Those guys do not count against the caps, so they’re kind of in their own bucket, but 14 guys, a little bit under 185 in total money for this coming season if you include Houston. And also if you if you kind of go ahead and guarantee the money for V creature and MOA as expected that is about 3.2 million under the luxury tax line with one roster spot available when they had three spots left um probably two weeks ago. Now I noted on the show that they’re going to be kind of close to bas basically be up against the tax if they try to sign three veteran minimum players. But instead of doing that, they signed Nicole Uricic using a second round exception to the rookie minimum in year one. And the rookie minimum is about a million dollars less compared to the tax than the veteran minimum. So that saved them a million dollars basically in the short term. And long story short, the Hawks can now sign any player in the entire league to the veteran minimum and be under the tax. I think at this point in time, the assumption should be, and really it’s been the case the entire time, but at least there was a chance at one point they might go over. But now it would stun everyone if they were to uh go over the tax. So they can sign anyone who’s still a free agent in the league. They can also trade for a player on the minimum. That would all also still apply. But there are some older guys like Al Horford, Malcolm Brogden, guys who’ve been in the league for eight, nine plus years who actually make more than three million a year on the minimum. But the NBA prorates minimum contracts. So they all cost the same for the team. it’s about, you know, $2 point something million, $2.3 million, and the league pays the difference. So, keep that in mind. The Hawks can now relatively comfortably sign any player to the minimum if they want to and then still be under the tax for next year. So, as far as the roster is concerned, I’ve discussed it before. I’ll probably get into it in deep dive fashion later on, maybe this week or next week, kind of a roster reset, but they had their seven kind of penciled in starting caliber players. They had their eighth guy in Luke Canard. They have some young guys. You got Buffkin. You’ve got Asa Newell, you’ve got Mogay, you’ve got B Crache, you’ve got Nicole Uruch. Like they have a interesting bit of depth on this roster. Then you have your two-ways and they have one spot available and that one spot could be filled or or honestly could not be. There is some school of thought that the Hawks could wait and leave the spot open. Now, I wouldn’t probably do that because there are some guys right now that if they would be willing to sign for the minimum, I would certainly like to have them. I would say headline my Horford, but presumably Horford is not going to be coming. That’s been reported to be very likely to be Golden State. No one said for sure, but that’s the projection. Same with the Anthony Melton. But there are other guys out there that I would offer the minimum to. But regardless, the Hawks can just stop right now. If they want to, they can stop right now, add nobody else, and go into the season with an with a legal NBA roster. 14 guys, three two ways, roll from there. But but they do have room to sign somebody else if they want to. And that’s the money side of things. In the future, there are some questions as we’ll get into later on with Trey Young, Dyson Daniels extension. They have they have money committed to Jaylen Johnson long term. Um Dyson will probably be paid long term. Of course, Porzingis is only a one-year contract. There’s a lot of future facing money questions and uncertainties with this roster. But in the meantime, for this year, they have zero bad contracts. Zero bad contracts plus a lot of good players. and still a little bit of flexibility as well. So, a good situation to be in if you’re the Hawks at this point in time and I want to kind of leave with that at the top of the podcast. Um, later on we will get into the NBA Cup and what’s going on with that that’s been announced in recent days plus preseason schedule kind of coming together, some major storylines for the future and then we’ll end with Trey Young. All that’s coming up in just one moment. This is brought to you by Monarch Money. Do you ever wish that managing your money felt just a little bit easier? With Monarch Money, it absolutely can feel easier. 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Take control of your finances right now with Monarch Money. And use code locked on MBA at monarchmoney.com for half off your first year. That’s monarchoney.com. The code is locked on NBA for half off your first year. All right, so while I was in Las Vegas covering summer league and the other minations going on with the Hawks, the NBA Cup schedule and details emerged. And look, this is not the biggest deal in the world in July. Um, but the NBA Cup made an impression locally last year because the Hawks made the run to the final four of the final cup of the of the NBA Cup, made the final four in Vegas. I was there. It was a fun spectacle. A lot of Hawks fans travel for that. And the NBA Cup still has mixed reviews. I would say people that like it like it. People that don’t are not quite sold yet. I get it. It’s an interesting event. It’s a unique event. Um I tend to like it. Honestly, it’s a just a different spin on things. The basketball is actually quite good. Teams seem to care about it in the moment. They play hard. Players show up and they do not skip games. It’s a nice product. I think some of the courts are a little bit loud and obviously a little bit unsightly, but I I I’ve enjoyed the kind of scene in Vegas the last couple years covering the NBA Cup in person, especially last year with the Hawks. and I like the event in general. Um, it’s the same format as last year, but with a new broadcast partner. In fact, Amazon is taking over as one of the main partners of the league on the TV side going into next season along with NBC replacing TNT. ESPN still around, but Amazon has the rights to the knockout round. So, the quarterfinals, semi-finals, and finals are all on Amazon this time around. And, uh, the group drawings, etc., etc., have been out there. So, group play begins on October 31st, which is shortly after the season begins and runs basically the entire month of November. Um, then the quarterfinals are December 9 and 10 in the team market. Last year, the Hawks went to New York and won on the road in the quarterfinals, if you might remember this. Um, then the semi-finals and the finals are back in Las Vegas. The semis are Saturday, December 13th. The title game is Tuesday, December 16th. I plan to be there whether Hawks are there or not. Hopefully, the Hawks will be there for more intrigue on this podcast. The Hawks are in the same group this year with Cleveland, Indiana, Toronto, and Washington. Each group winner, of course, advances to the quarterfinals, and then there’s one wild card per conference. There are six groups, three in each conference, then a one wild card in each conference as well. In group play, the Hawks host the Cavs and the Raptors, and they go on the road to Indiana and Washington. Last year, if you recall, the Hawks were in the group with Boston and Cleveland. So, most people were not giving them too much of a chance to get out of the group, but they ended up winning both of those games. and winning the group, which is a lot of fun to watch. Some of the fun about the NBA Cup, in my opinion, is that the small sample size format does kind of increase variance. You still want the good teams to make it far for more interest, but certainly there is a anything could happen kind of vibe to the NBA Cup, which the Hawks were part of last year. Um, going into this season, again, we’ll save some of this for later, but the Cavs are the betting favorite to win the group. Not a surprise. They are currently the number one team projected by most people in the entire Eastern Conference after Boston’s trade-offs and injuries, etc. For me, the Hawks are clearly the second best team in the group. The Pacers were in the finals last year. I get that. The Hallebertton is of course out. Miles Turner um is not there anymore, so not the same team. And then the Hawks are obviously better than Washington and Toronto at this point. Um so they have a chance to make make a difference again. Obviously, it’s so early. But backing that up, our friends at FanDuel paint a similar picture. The Hawks are plus 270 to win the group. So last year they were like 15 to1. Like they were a surprise to win the group. Last year this year would be far less. So it’s a better Hawks team and also a worse group. That combination makes it more likely that they’ll win it. Cleveland is plus 115. So almost 50/50 to win it. Indiana’s plus 500. Toronto plus 550 and Washington is plus 2100. That’s a long shot to win the NBA Cup group there. And the Hawks, by the way, right now are 19 to1 to win the entire NBA Cup at FanDuel. Last year, last year they were like 100 something to one and they almost won it. So, uh, a different situation now, but, uh, that’s the NBA Cup. It was announced. So, I want to at least make sure I touch on that at some point. And we’ll, of course, circle back around to that when we get closer and the schedule comes out. And by the way, the schedule overall usually hits in August somewhere. In fact, the preseason schedule for the Hawks is not out yet technically. Last year they announced it on August 7th and they played four games. This year has not been announced, but there are actually two games that have been announced by other teams that the Hawks will be playing in. One of them is Monday, October 6th in Houston. Then they will play Houston again actually in Atlanta on Thursday, October 16th. That might be the last game. The opener of the season for regular season purposes for the NBA is October 21st. So, it’s very conceivable that that’s the last game of a tuneup will be at home against Houston on October 16th, but if you are someone trying to like plan your calendar already in advance, we know one home game for sure and it’s October 16th against Houston. Again, TVD for that. We’ll get into all the schedule stuff when it comes out later on this summer. And then the rest of the podcast, some storylines I want to make sure people kind of keep an eye on. So, at the end of the last show I did yesterday on Sunday night, I kind of I kind of said, “Hey, we don’t go away. There’s plenty to talk about.” And that’s definitely the case. I’ll have player capsules with my friend Glenn Willis. We’ll be talking about all kinds of guys on the Hawks roster, digging in, really deep dives into these players, what they were last year, what they will be in the future, and all of that. Plus, we have contract stuff, etc. And for me, there are three kind of contractual storylines for the next three months. One of them is Tyson Daniels, who is eligible for a rookie scale extension. Only four of those have happened so far this summer. Uh, three of those of the four have been for the max. Palo Bonero, Jaylen Williams, and Chad Homegrren all got the max. Those are usually the ones that get done faster when the guys are making the max. There’s been one that was not the max. There’s Jagari Smith. We’ve got five years and 122 million. That’s kind of the Dyson range. I think I would probably guess Dyson gets more than that, but we’ll see. It could be certainly somewhere in that range if it gets done. I will cover Dyson at Nauseium later on. It’s kind of just a look ahead. They have until a October to decide on that. They don’t have to extend him. It’s a year in advance. It wouldn’t start till next year. All those kind of, you know, bits and bobs, but in the meantime, that’s a storyline for the next three months. Also, Kobe Buffin’s fourth year team option is a decision they have to make. So, I talked about Kobe on the show yesterday. I will I’ll probably do at least one more summer league wrap-up episode with a guest, but they have until the end of October to decide on Kobe’s $6.9 million team option for his fourth season. That’s a real choice. That’s real money, $7 million or so. They probably want to wait till camp gets going and have some preseason data in there because they don’t have that much data on Kobe playing. That’s the reality of the situation. Um, and again, that’s it’s not a small amount of money. $7 million for Kobe is not exactly a no-brainer. There’s another one that’s actually is a no-brainer that I’m not even really going to talk about much, and that’s Zachary Risha’s um thirdyear team option. Technically after your second season um sorry after your first season you’d be the team has has to decide on the rookie scale deal for the third season. So it’s always a year in advance. This should be Zach’s second season. So they’ll be deciding on his third year option. Let’s just say that’s not really a decision. It’s an absolute no-brainer that the Hawks will be picking up that option. So it’s not really a storyline, but they have to actually just press the button on that. But um Kobe Buffin actually is a decision. So we’ll see what how long they wait, what they do. It would not shock me if they decline that. It also wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t. So, we will see on that, but that’s kind another story line to follow. Just want to throw that out there at this early juncture. And then there’s probably the one that has already gotten the most discussion. Certainly, it’s either Dyson or Trey, but I think Trey, because of the nature of Trey Young’s name and pedigree and polarizing nature, all that. His veteran extension negotiation is the biggest story from now until it actually happens or doesn’t in October. And I’ll get into that story line and more in just one moment. All right. And as I said a second ago, Trion extension negotiations are a big big topic. He has become eligible for an extension as of July 6th, so about two weeks ago. Um, no deal’s done at this point in time, 15 days in. That is not surprising, nor is it inherently bad or worrying. Just noting the time frame there. I’ve been saying the entire time, this is not an easy negotiation. and that and those these things take time. There is reason to believe that it could get done, but also that it may not. That’s the nature of this kind of tricky negotiation. It can be up to four years and $229 million. That’s a lot of money, obviously, to the point where I have never thought at any point that the Hawks would definitely just make that offer right away. That would be an offer that like, look, I think Trey is really good. If Trey was Sheay or Joic or one of the top five guys in the league, that offer just sits on the table and you hope the guy signs it. Trey’s in that next tier down of guys where um if Trey was 23, like the first time Trey signed a max retention, it was an easy decision. Number one, it was a smaller max, 25%. Number two, he was entering his absolute prime. And that’s like it was a no-brainer. I said that at the time, they gave it to him right away. It was July 1st. He signed it. Bing, bang, boom. You’re done. This time around, I would say the Hawks are justified in not offering the full Max. They don’t want to. On Trey’s side, he is justified in asking for the full Max. He’s been that level of player. So, both teams, both sides here have justifiable positions that are not exactly aligned. That’s kind of my broad statement. Um, so the GM for the Hawks, basically no commented when he was asked about Trey in a nice way. Also apply the same thing to Dyson Daniels. like basically a blanket statement that he’s never going to discuss contracts, which by the way, executives just have zero incentive to discuss this stuff in actual detail in public on the record, but honestly went out of his way to kind of just say I’m not talking about this like ever. And he was nice about it. But that’s also what honestly what I would do if I was him. It’s just kind of no comment. There’s no reason there’s nothing to add on this. You’re trying to negotiate. It is what it is. But once the dead period kind of arrived a couple weeks ago and things slowed down, there were more stories on Trey because that’s you trying to fill vacuum of columns and content etc. Sean Shirani talked to NBA today on ESPN a couple days ago and people were asking me about that clip because it kind of made the rounds on Twitter. He said that from what he has heard Trey Young is quote locked in and excited about this team end quote and then he also believes in the team. He’s excited. I think that’s what I’ve heard offline as well. But Sham saying that does have some weight. He also said he would not be he would not be surprised if if the contract stuff gets put on hold during the season if they don’t find a deal because this is actually unique. With Dyson, there’s a deadline. It’s in October. It’s like, hey, this is the deadline. You either sign it or you don’t. And if you don’t, we have to wait till the following summer. With Trey, he’s eligible the entire way through, including during the season. So, they could say, hey, we’ll we’ll talk to you again in December or January or whatever. We don’t really know what’s going to happen. That’s definitely interesting. Also, um Sham’s discussed with Malikica Andrews of ESPN that Trey skipped out on a Jordan Brand event overseas to be at Summer League with his teammates in Las Vegas. That was already kind of out there and I heard about that while I was in Las Vegas, but it was notable. Not a huge like game changer, but certainly the investment that Trey has in the team, he said all the right things. All of the intel is really positive about the way Trey feels, about the way the Hawks feel about Trey. It’s all very positive. So, I’m sure that u you’ll get some sensationalized headlines and oh, the Hawks don’t like Trey Young anymore or Trey Young wants out whatever. The vibes are good from what I can hear and what I’ve seen and that matters. Now, a question that came in from Weston is the following. Weston says, “Do the Hawks run the risk of alienating Trey Young if they try to negotiate hard with him? I love the idea of getting him a jail contract, but it also seems risky.” End quote. So the answer is yes. There is some risk of actually negotiating instead of just giving Trey the full max and not even talking about it. Just saying, “Hey, here’s your deal, whatever.” Again, I believe the new realities of the NBA salary environments, and that’s not just me, people that study this stuff better than I do, experts on the cap minutia, you can’t give out full max deals to guys who are entering the kind of second half of their prime who aren’t like the top five players in the league. And as much as I like Trey, he isn’t quite that. Like if it again, if it was Shay, if it was Jokic, you get you just give the deal. It is what it is. But if you’re in Trey’s position, there is more nuance here. Again, I am not a part of this conversation, but here this is how I would look at it. Trey will make about $46 million this season locked in. His player option for the following year is like 49 million or so. For me, to be very clear, he is absolutely worth the max. He’s worth that money right now. age 26, age 27 seasons, he is worth that much money now, unequivocally to me. He is a max player. Now, not everyone agrees with that, but studying the league as I do, studying the way that Trey plays as I do, I think he’s underrated. He’s really good, and he is one of the top 20 25 players in the league. He is a max player right now today. He’s worth that in the short term. Full stop. At the same time, Trey is eligible for a four-year deal at the max. If that happens, he would start at $51 million next year instead of player options higher, a little bit more. And then go up from there with raises each year to more than 60 million in the final fourth season of that deal. So more than $60 million in the 2930 season when Trey will be 31 years old. And look, there is a chance that Trey is still a Max player at age 31. There’s definitely a chance of that. I’m not saying otherwise. But if you look at the historical aging curve for small guards like guys Trey’s size, other than Chris Paul and maybe John Stockton, it gets pretty dicey at a certain age at that size. So Trey’s going to age pretty well, I think, because he’s such a he’s such a great passer. Um he’s so smart. But like there is a I would say if you’re projecting trying to be objective here, four years from now, five years from now actually, Trey is probably not gonna be quite the same player. That’s probably fair to say. So keep that in mind. That that’s that matters a lot here. I will also say it’s also the nature of these conversations and these deals sometimes sometimes you go into a deal with the face of the franchise your central player knowing that it may not be great at the end. That’s happened many times before. Kobe Bryant’s a famous one recently where they gave him this kind of balloon deal at the end that that was not a good deal for the team, but it was to make things whole with him. PR, good vibes, all of that. Trey isn’t Kobe. Not saying otherwise, but it’s not crazy to talk about him and just give him the contract. I get that. But Antle is a process-driven analytical person. And I don’t mean that in the analytics quote unquote sense. I mean like he just like he thinks this stuff through. He’s a planner. He’s very smart about the margins of the NBA. And I think people can probably see that so far with what he’s done so far around the team. I believe that if the Hawks wanted to give Trey the full four-year max, it would already be done. I think if that deal was on the table, Trey would sign it and it would be done. But that deal is not on the table right now. I’m pretty confident in that. Again, not saying that’s 100% gospel, but that’s my read on situation. Um, but I do believe there is a middle ground. That’s important. Now, I’ve used the Jayla Brunson comp as well. That was in the question that won asked a moment ago. But it’s also worth noting that was a much easier negotiation than this one is for one reason. I earlier this summer went through the minations of what the Hawks have been through the last two years and I started with DeJonte Murray signing an extension that he wasn’t supposed to sign and by supposed to I mean projected to sign and on that podcast I discussed this at at length. The Hawks were in a good position in that they they could offer to Marine extension that was an underpay for him but also it was a spot where the Hawks could say to him in good faith this is the most we are allowed to offer you. There’s power in that. And the Knicks have the same thing with Jaylen Brunson. Jaylen Brunson could have waited one more year and signed a deal for like a hundred million more dollars. It was that big of a deal. But at that very moment, the Knicks could only offer him, it was like a four-year deal for one something. And it was a bargain for him. Everyone knew it. It was a favor to the Knicks that he signed it. But the Knicks also could say to Jaylen, “Hey, Jaylen, we love you. This is all we’re allowed to offer you.” And he signed it. It’d be easier right now if the Hawks had a situation, but they don’t. In Trey’s case, that anchor does not exist. The Hawks can go to four and 229. He knows it. They know it. Everyone knows it. It’s there’s some harder negotiation because of that. So again, overall, there is some risk to trying to negotiate with the best player and the most prominent player they’ve had in Atlanta in 30 plus years since Dominique. That stuff does matter. The dynamics are really complicated here. But I do believe even as someone who’s quite high on Trey, the Hawks should negotiate this. They should. I would not want to give Trey four years and 229 right now. Do I think it’s like that that would be a cat a catastrophe? No, I don’t. But if you say, “Hey, is that a contract that you love?” No, it isn’t. If I’m the Hawks, I’d like to negotiate that down a little bit. Now, if Trey won’t, I get that, too. Like there, again, this is a very nuanced, difficult spot because Trey is a Max player and he knows it. But the Hawks have to think long-term big picture team building. And look, let’s be real for a second. The Hawks have not shown the willingness, and by the Hawks, I mean ownership of the Hawks, Tony Wrestler and company have not shown the willingness to spend at a level to exceed the tax and spend big big big money on this team. Maybe they will in the future. I’m not ruling that out. But if you’re going to start paying Trey Young that level going into his age 31 season, and you’re going to also try to keep Jaylen Johnson and Dyson Daniels and Zachary by the who will also be on his second contract by then. um Porzingis for the short term. All of these factors, you’re going to be at some point bumping up into the tax. And if you’re not willing to do that, that’s an even harder cell to pay Trey what he is quote unquote worth right now because it’s going to be harder to do that long term. So, long story short, he can become a free next summer. That’s the looming domino here is that he has a player option. He can decline it and he can leave. That’ll be his that’ll be his choice. And that means there’s actual there’s actual risk. That’d be bad for the Hawks, obviously. But there also I will say and this is one of those nuances too. There isn’t it doesn’t seem to be. So with Miles Turner there was this weird market that just emerged from nowhere with Milwaukee. That could happen with Trey Young too. We don’t know but right now there isn’t like that very obvious suitor for him that is just looming out there and that could still happen but even then the Hawks if they wanted to let it go till next summer they could still offer him the most years and the most dollars as as the incumbent team. So, they have that anvil as well if they want to use it. All that said, there’s still a real chance that it gets done this summer. I am also not surprised that it’s taking a little bit of time because it’s again a very complicated negotiation. On one side, you have the team side. How high are they willing to go? That’s that’s basically the entire question. On Trey’s side, how much would Trey consider even taking a little bit less than his max? We just don’t know right now. And there’s a very reasonable argument on both sides for Trey. I would say, and look, I don’t like to take money away from players. I really don’t. Um, because that’s just that they’ve they make the league what it is. Um, but a situation with Trey is in where he’s in a great spot. They’ve built a team around him. They’ve built the team that he needs around him with big wings who can defend and hide him a little bit defensively. There’s also there’s, I would say, there’s inherent value, even monetary value sometimes, in being the guy in a market, in a big market. And Atlanta’s a big market. It is. um he can still lock in more money. Like he’s obviously rich beyond my wildest dreams already, but lock in another 150, $180 million, whatever the number is, lock that in. Be the guy in your market, still the guy clearly, and there’s value in that. So, it’s interesting. Overall, I would say one more time, as long as the vibes are reasonable, it’s not a bad situation. They can kind of hopefully have a friendly, understandable negotiation. It can be nuanced. It really can. But from what I can tell, everyone’s still on the same page about Trey being in Atlanta, being valued, being the guy on the team, and they’re gearing up on all sides for this to be a good Hawks team this year. Like the best team in several years for this team. So, we’ll see how this goes the rest of the summer, but that’s a little bit of an overview for where we stand where we stand right now. I know it hasn’t got done yet. I know there’s been emojis. I get all that. I think there’s interest and I know there is mutual interest in him signing. It’s just whether they can find the number. And if they don’t, next summer becomes big. But we’ll get into that later on. how this how this season goes and all that, but it’s uh it’s one big point of nuance. I wish it was easier to discuss, but hopefully that was a good overview of what actually the situation is. And we’ll get into more if it if the situation arises later on this summer. And by the way, it’s probably the most popular topic in my mentions, in my emails, my Patreon messages. So hopefully that answers some of those questions as well. All right, everybody. That’s all I have on a Monday evening into Tuesday. Please subscribe to Lock on Hawks anywhere you find your podcast, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Follow the show on XLT Twitter at Loton Hawks. Follow me there at BT Roland. I’m also on Blue Sky BT Roland. You can follow my nonpodcast coverage of the Hawks at patreon.com/btland. All right, I’ll have more to come later on this week and we’ll see you all next time.

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts Episode 2026 of the Locked on Hawks podcast. Topics include the financial situation for the Atlanta Hawks after a busy summer, the 2025 NBA Cup, part of Atlanta’s preseason schedule, key storylines for the summer, and Trae Young’s contract extension negotiations.

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