One Western Conference Team Reportedly Shows No Interest In Acquiring Trae Young

It’s official: Trae Young is looking to get traded.

On Monday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Young and his agents are engaging in “collaborative talks” with the Atlanta Hawks to get a deal done. While this news may have piqued the interest of some teams across the league, one ball club was apparently unmoved by this development.

According to NBA insider Sam Amick, the Sacramento Kings are not waiting in line to negotiate with Young.

“Source says Sacramento has no interest in a Trae Young deal, fwiw,” Amick tweeted. “That has been the Kings’ stance for quite some time now—even with rumblings about a Young-for-Zach LaVine swap—and I’m told it remains unchanged.”

The Kings’ lack of interest is interesting, as they have a clear need for a point guard who can help them in the long term. With aging veterans Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder as their best prospects for the role of court general, Sacramento badly needs an infusion of young blood at this position.

Young, after all, has proven to be both an excellent facilitator and a more-than-potent scorer. Last season, he led the league in assists (11.6 dimes per game) and earned his fourth All-Star selection. Though injuries have curtailed his production this season, Young remains prolific with 19.3 PPG on 41.5% shooting from the field, along with 8.9 assists per game.

However, the Kings' coaching staff and front office may be wary of the same flaws that other teams have been seeing in Young. The 6-foot-2 guard has long been considered a liability on the defensive end, and for a team like the Kings (who are currently 28th in defensive rating), to acquire Young is to increase the risk of getting exploited by other teams on the perimeter.

Then, there's the question of availability, as Young has played just 10 of the Hawks' 38 games thus far. In the eyes of GMs shopping for a point guard, Young's knee and quad issues over the past two months are red flags that can't be ignored. It's not difficult, then, to imagine why the Kings' front office wants to take a hard pass on a player whose best years are still ahead of him.