Atlanta Hawks star point guard Trae Young is entering the final guaranteed year of his current contract, and he created some uncertainty over his future with a cryptic post.
On Tuesday, Young took to social media with a simple three-word post that sent fans scrambling:
Young is eligible for a four-year, $229 million extension. He said during media day that he wasn’t disappointed with the state of contract discussions.
“I don’t know [about] the word disappointment, I mean, maybe, for sure,” Young said, per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “For me, I’m so focused. I’m more happy about the team that we got going into this season. I’m blessed, bro. I wasn’t stressing about anything. If something happened, it happened. If it didn’t, I still got time. I’m focused on this team. I’m focused on right now. I got a great team going into the season that you can’t say I’ve had [before]. So I’m even more excited about that. Who knows what the future is for me. But right now I’m here and I’m present like me and Coach [Quin Snyder] have been talking about. I’m ready to go.”
The Hawks revamped their roster this offseason with the addition of veterans Kristaps Porzingis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard. Young will be leading a promising core that also includes Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher and Onyeka Okongwu.
The Eastern Conference is wide open this season, so this could be Atlanta’s best chance to chase a spot in the NBA Finals. However, any struggles this season could push the team to explore trade offers for Young if an extension isn’t reached before the start of the year.
