"Young going down with a sprained knee on Oct. 29 has provided the Hawks with a chance to see what this roster could look like if he left as a free agent -- or via trade -- next summer, when he has a $48.9 million player option. The early returns are promising. Atlanta has gone 7-2 without its All-Star guard and -- most interestingly -- ranks fourth in defensive efficiency in that span. Atlanta has never finished better than 18th in Young's seven NBA seasons."
"A month isn't long enough to guarantee anything -- last season's Indiana Pacers, for example, started 6-10 and in 11th place in the Eastern Conference before their eventual run to Game 7 of the NBA Finals -- but it is long enough for storylines to develop that could shape the next few months of play, the run up to the February trade deadline and the race to the playoffs."
""I think the Trae Young situation is fascinating," a Western Conference executive told ESPN. "They're a totally different team with and without him.""
One month into the 2025-26 NBA season has produced spectacular moments and early storylines that could influence the trade deadline and playoff races. A month is not long enough to guarantee outcomes, as last season's Pacers illustrated, but it is sufficient to reveal meaningful trends across teams. League insiders contributed observations used to identify one lesson for each franchise, with statistics updated through Wednesday's games. A notable development: the Atlanta Hawks have gone 7-2 without Trae Young, improved defensively to fourth in efficiency in that span, and demonstrated how the roster might operate without their star.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]