In the NBA, the Trae Young (and Ja Morant) era is over: the truth behind the trades

After nearly eight years, Trae Young has left the Atlanta Hawks as part of a trade that sends him to Washington in exchange for C.J. McCollum and Corey Kispert. And among all the reasons that pushed Atlanta to move on from a player like him – for a package that doesn’t even include a draft pick – one stands out above the rest: the Trae Young era is over… and not just in Atlanta.

In an NBA that is increasingly position-less, with offensive systems built around five shooters and often led by a wing or a point-forward rather than a traditional point guard, time is running out for players like Trae Young or Ja Morant.

The Hawks chose to turn the page precisely when the defensive holes began to outweigh the offensive benefits. The league is changing fast, and for some players it’s becoming harder and harder to find a place on teams built to win a championship.

The decisions of Atlanta and Memphis

Just like Trae, Ja Morant also appears destined to change teams for the first time in his career, with the Memphis Grizzlies actively searching for buyers and attractive offers ahead of the trade deadline.

Their paths couldn’t be more different – Morant never led Memphis to a Conference Finals, Trae Young never waved guns on social media – yet their trades are happening at the same moment in time.

Over the last few months, both have become a burden for their teams, which finally found the courage to press the red button and change something that had stopped working.

And as painful as it may be to admit when talking about superstars, both are dysfunctional and inefficient by 2026 basketball standards – far removed from the franchise-player prototype NBA teams are now chasing.

Jalen Johnson will have to prove he can be a reliable first option even on off nights, but Atlanta’s rebuild can finally see the light. This summer the Hawks will have $60 million in cap space (with McCollum and Porzingis expiring), plus the chance to add a player like Darryn Peterson via the Pelicans’ pick.

Pressing the red button is scary, especially when you move on from the face of your franchise for eight years – but the Hawks made one of the best and most important decisions in their history.

A new NBA era has begun

With this trade, Atlanta chose to move forward, abandon old certainties, and take a real step toward the future. After years of treading water, the front office gave up on the mission of “hiding Trae Young’s flaws with elite defenders” and instead committed to a group that could become a model for the rest of the league.

Led by the explosive growth of Jalen Johnson and supported by two of the best defenders in the NBA, the Hawks can finally dream again.

And what the Trae Young trade really reveals is something deeper: it’s becoming increasingly difficult – if not impossible – to build around players who are offensive engines but severe defensive liabilities, especially in a league whose physicality keeps increasing.

Trae Young has been one of the league’s best offensive players in recent years, but defensively he became a massive problem for Atlanta. The Hawks constantly had to protect him from mismatches, and the numbers are brutal: in the 280 minutes he played this season, Atlanta allowed +15.6 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor – the worst mark in the entire NBA!

But Trae isn’t an isolated case: this season, among players with the highest Usage Rate (USG%) – those who drive their team’s offense – only 6 of 30 are point guards under 2 meters (6’6”). Ten years ago, there were 13.

Yes, Trae Young is part of an endangered species.

On defense, the “+” is meant to be a negative (with Brunson on the floor, the Knicks concede 13.6 more points per 100 possessions, the second-worst among point guards after Trae Young).

Notice anything else? Yes… among these is Ja Morant – who’s currently on the market, and Memphis is trying to trade him for the first time since 2019.

Then there’s Jalen Brunson (named NBA Cup MVP, a negative for his Knicks despite his offensive prowess), Russell Westbrook (who leads the worst team in the West), De’Aaron Fox (who shares the backcourt with Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle, who are clearly better defensively than him), Stephen Curry (among the worst defenders in the NBA for the first time in his career), and Tyrese Maxey (who has never been above average defensively in his six NBA seasons).

Just ten years ago, in the 2015-16 season, nearly half of NBA teams (13 out of 30, a 117% increase compared to today!) based their offense on a point guard under 2 meters (6’6″). And the most curious thing is that – on average – they also had a positive impact on their team on the defensive end too (-0.4 points allowed per 100 possessions).

The NBA is changing, and this comparison provides us with two key concepts for understanding modern basketball:

• Analytics and the study of advanced statistics have shown the difficulties that come from having a poor defender in the starting five: especially in the playoffs (when at least four games are played against the same team), analysts working for NBA teams know precisely the opponents’ weaknesses and exploit them to their advantage – as the Pacers did with Brunson in last year’s series.

• It’s increasingly difficult to keep poor defenders on the court because the NBA’s offensive systems are constantly evolving, and limited players no longer exist: almost everyone can shoot or beat their opponent off the dribble. And NBA teams are looking for these increasingly well-rounded players to assemble a team that has no weaknesses on offense or defense.

Cooper Flagg? A 6-foot-10 forward who can do everything on offense and was considered one of the best defensively in the draft. Stephon Castle? A 6-foot-10 point guard, already a candidate for the All-Defensive Team in his second year. Wembanyama? A 6-foot-10 center, fearsome on defense and incredibly complete on offense. Not to mention Jalen Williams, Dyson Daniels, Alex Sarr, Cedric Coward – or Darryn Peterson and A.J. Dybantsa, who will enter the NBA next June.

Of course, offensive skills matter, and not a little – especially the responsibility to lead the offense and the ability to find open teammates – but when you reach a certain level, the highest in world basketball (where even millimeters separate the NBA Champions from the runners-up), having a major defensive weakness on the court is always fatal.

But… for how long?

In recent years, the change has been incredibly rapid and at the same time undeniable: in 2021, the leading point guard with the best defensive impact was third in the NBA (Mike Conley, -10.2), in 2023, a point guard was first in the NBA for best defensive impact (Immanuel Quickley, -12.0), while in the last two years, 2025 and 2026, the leading point guards dropped to 22nd (Davion Mitchell, -5.9) and 43rd (Josè Alvarado, -5.9).

A true revolution.

Trades (including Young and Morant) and the profiles of 19-year-olds selected in the draft lead us to believe this is a trend that will continue to grow in the coming years.

Is the era of the point guards coming to an end? It’s a scary question, but it’s actually more than legitimate. The NBA is changing before our eyes, and – right now – it doesn’t seem to be slowing down…