Why the Trae Young Deal Went Through Without Draft Pick Compensation

Working in basketball

How does Mikal Bridges = 5 1^st Round pick and Desmond Bane = 4 1^st Round picks to the contrary of Luka Doncic = 1 1^st Round Pick and Trae Young = 0 1^st Round Picks?

The short answer is the salary cap. The longer answer includes players, agents, agendas demands, relationships, team objectives, and more.

When fans put together trade packages, they often neglect the business and marketing side. Teams have to have a player to market to sell tickets, a franchise player. This has obviously been Trae Young since he arrived in Atlanta. And despite the data telling them that it would have been better to move him the last few seasons (they know this as well as anyone else), there is no way they could move a franchise player without a franchise player in place… hence, Jalen Johnson.

Even with the emergence of Jalen Johnson, you need something else to move on from a star and that is the ability to win. With Trae’s injuries, there was not only a thought process of ‘we can win without Trae,’ there was a proof of concept. And the ability to win is part of the factor in play without draft picks. Without a star or without the ability to win, then a team would hold out for draft compensation. It has to be worth the dip in ticket sales and marketing to acquire a high-end lottery ticket. (Which is why the Luka trade is still so mind-boggling, they received one small lottery ticket and were ‘sold’ on an ability to win but in reality, received neither).

Jalen’s emergence not only made Atlanta more amenable to a trade, it heightened the buzz around Trae’s camp of the team’s need to move on without him. In today’s social world, the twitter buzz of getting coaches fired and players traded is a very powerful force.

But why did it happen so quickly and without draft compensation?

I am more than positive that Atlanta scoured the entire market on Trae. And it was reported that Toronto did offer draft compensation but with Immanuel Quickley’s contract attached. Atlanta’s interest was more on cleaning their books than acquiring players under heavy contracts. The trade market for an undersized, ball dominant guard on a max contract likely had most offers wanting compensation back from Atlanta to take Trae.

While Atlanta scoured the market, Trae’s camp also scoured the market. What they found was a team that needed a face of the franchise and that had cap room to offer Trae the contract he desires. And also a friendly face, Travis Shlenk, who’s career as an executive is still intertwined and invested in Trae with first acquiring him for… Luka Doncic on draft night.

This is the part where Trae comes out publicly that he wants to play for the Wizards. While some were confused why he would declare his desires to play for a ‘losing’ franchise, what Trae saw was limited opportunities across the landscape but a big opportunity in Washington.

Trae would be going somewhere he’s wanted and that Washington could offer him the compensation package he desires. Washington is willing to invest in players and yet it has been a slow rebuild. While a front office is typically fine with a slow rebuild (just tank another season and wait for the ping pong balls), ownership and fans typically lose patience. A General Manager knows that to keep his job, he can’t exceed expectations in the short run, he has to find a piece to build something for the long run (which typically comes in a high draft pick).

When Trae came out publicly that he would like to play for Washington, it put an amount of pressure on Atlanta. Whereas most teams would likely continue to negotiate across the League or demand draft compensation, Atlanta decided the cleanest path forward was to simply move on from the Trae era without dragging out the process. Some may be frustrated at the ‘lack of return’ but for Atlanta, their objectives were clear… move on from Trae, keep the books clean moving forward for maximum roster flexibility, build around Jalen Johnson. They achieved all of their objectives with the trade and did not need to drag the process out.

Most teams will always look to ‘win’ the trade rather than moving forward. I very much respect them not dragging the process out, moving forward, and doing right by the player.

And Washington meets their objectives in adding a face of the franchise and lucky for them, that face is currently injured so they can continue in their team objective of losing aka developing (retaining a top 8 protected pick) while selling ownership and the fanbase on future hopes of winning. A win-win for both franchises.