By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2026-01-09 01:59:50
老鹰队决定扣动扳机，完成了2026年的首笔重磅交易。亚特兰大将特雷·杨 (Trae Young) 送往华盛顿奇才，换来了CJ·麦科勒姆 (C.J. McCollum) 和科里·基斯珀特 (Corey Kispert)，结束了与杨之间长达七个半赛季风波不断的关系。
对于一位四次入选全明星、上赛季的助攻王且正值生涯巅峰的球员来说，这样的交易回报实在是有些寒酸。这背后的原因有很多，但可以肯定的是，今明两年都无法掌控自己选秀权的老鹰队认为这笔交易能让他们变得更好。
那么，马刺球迷为何要关心杨和老鹰队的动向呢？因为马刺手握老鹰队2026年选秀权的互换权，并且拥有他们在德章泰·默里 (Dejounte Murray) 交易中得到的2027年选秀权。考虑到这一点，让我们来深入分析这笔交易对马刺的具体影响。
老鹰实力恐难有起色，除非后续还有大动作
亚特兰大可能认为这是一种“减法补强”，并且有理由相信他们是对的。尽管杨作为传球手表现出色，但他的进攻并非完美无瑕。考虑到他部分出手的高难度，其生涯35%的三分命中率并不算糟糕，但与此同时，正是杨的打法导致了如此多高难度投篮的出现。他是一名极度依赖球权的球员，作为参考，他每场比赛的接球就投次数与卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 相同，而出场时间却比后者多了20分钟。他拥有致命的抛投，但并非一位高效的篮下终结者，同时他也是联盟中防守最差的球员之一。
随着杰伦·约翰逊 (Jalen Johnson) 在进攻端崭露头角，以及尼基尔·亚历山大-沃克 (Nickeil Alexander-Walker) 迎来爆发赛季，老鹰队放弃这样一名球员是可以理解的：他能刷出漂亮数据，并能在大核体系中领导一支不错的进攻队伍，但似乎难以适应其他角色。麦科勒姆是一位仍能得分的可靠老将，再加上基斯珀特这样的射手，他们的加盟应该能让奎因·斯奈德 (Quin Snyder) 教练建立他所偏爱的、拥有大量球的转移和分享的进攻体系。亚特兰大的进攻效率或许难以跻身联盟前十，但也不至于从目前第18名的位置大幅下滑，如果一切顺利，甚至可能提升几个名次。
问题在于球场的另一端——防守端。尽管麦科勒姆和基斯珀特远非防守尖兵，但没有了杨，亚特兰大的防守应该会有所改善。然而，球队阵容中依然缺少可靠的护筐手和攻防兼备的侧翼。戴森·丹尼尔斯 (Dyson Daniels) 似乎忘了如何投篮。约翰逊在防守端没有进步，部分原因是他要在进攻端承担重任。克里斯塔普斯·波尔津吉斯 (Kristaps Porzingis) 能够成为防守中坚，但他一直难以保持健康出战。
单凭交易杨本身，应该不足以让老鹰队在战绩榜上高歌猛进。如果后续还有大动作——比如传闻中关于安东尼·戴维斯 (Anthony Davis) 的交易——来补强这支防守效率联盟第16的球队，那么亚特兰大或许能找到平衡，至少在短期内是这样。否则，这套阵容的缺陷似乎太过明显，除了冲击附加赛资格外，难有作为。
小个后卫市场行情冷淡，长远或对马刺不利
几年前，杨换来如此糟糕的回报是难以想象的。他一直是一位备受争议的球员，但也是一位富有魅力、数据亮眼、能投进关键球并能承担巨大进攻责任的明星，尽管他做得不像巅峰詹姆斯·哈登 (James Harden) 或卢卡·东契奇 (Luka Doncic) 那样出色。用一名34岁老将的到期合同，外加一名平庸至极的侧翼射手，就想换来这样的球员，在几年前这会被认为是滑稽可笑的廉价筹码。在今天的NBA，这笔交易对老鹰而言依然不算出色，但这似乎正反映了联盟对杨这类球员的价值评估。
那些无法换防、防守端又不拼命的小个后卫，已经成为一个巨大的弱点。各支球队会极具侵略性且毫不留情地针对这类球员进行错位单打，除非球队其他成员能做到完美执行，否则这将成为一个主要问题。如果这位防守羸弱的小个后卫还极度需要球权，那么他在进攻端最好是绝对的精英级别，比如像杰伦·布伦森 (Jalen Brunson) 那样，才值得球队为他费心。这在一定程度上也解释了为何市场上没有给杨提供更好的报价，以及为什么像贾·莫兰特 (Ja Morant) 以及身材更高但防守意识欠缺的拉梅洛·鲍尔 (LaMelo Ball) 这样的球员似乎没有太大市场的原因。对于非顶级的组织者来说，换防能力和全能性已成为硬性要求。
由于马刺目前并未试图交易德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)，所以这对他们来说还不是问题。即便他们考虑过，福克斯集运动能力、积极防守和乐于分享球权于一身的特点，也使他与杨区别开来。然而，如果联盟的这一趋势持续下去，未来当圣安东尼奥决定放弃他，并将球队的钥匙交给迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 时，这可能会成为一个问题。
对此完全没有必要恐慌。福克斯年仅28岁，与球队现有核心阵容契合度高，而且当初得到他的代价并不大。因此，即便马刺最终在几年后交易他（这远非定数），他们也不需要得到巨额回报，就能在整体上感觉自己是赢家。但是，联盟如何看待那些换防能力有限的进攻型后卫，这依然是值得关注的动向，因为圣安东尼奥就有一位这样的球员。
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：What Trae Young’s trade to Washington means for the Spurs
What Trae Young’s trade to Washington means for the Spurs
The Hawks decided to pull the trigger on the first significant trade of 2026. Atlanta sent Trae Young to the Washington Wizards for C.J. McCollum and Corey Kispert, ending their relationship with Young after a tumultuous seven and a half seasons.
The trade return is underwhelming for a player who’s been an All-Star four times, was the assists leader last season, and is in his prime. The reasons for that are many, but it’s safe to say the Hawks, who don’t control their own draft pick this year or next, thought it would make them better.
Why should Spurs fans care what happens to Young and the Hawks? Because the team holds swap rights to Atlanta’s 2026 pick and owns their 2027 pick from the Dejounte Murray trade. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at what the trade means for the Spurs.
The Hawks should still be bad, unless this is only the first big move
Atlanta likely thinks this is an addition by subtraction situation, and there are reasons to believe they are right. For as good as Young is as a passer, his offensive game is far from perfect. His 35 percent career average as a three-point shooter is not terrible considering the degree of difficulty of some of his shots, but, at the same time, Young’s style of play is what led to so many hard shots. He’s an incredibly ball-dominant player who, for reference, has attempted the same amount of catch-and-shoot looks per game as Carter Bryant has while playing 20 more minutes. He has a deadly floater but is not a prolific finisher at the rim, and he’s one of the worst defensive players in the league.
With Jalen Johnson emerging as a star on offense and Nickeil Alexander-Walker having a breakout year, it’s understandable for the Hawks to move on from a player who can put up numbers and lead a good offense in a heliocentric attack but doesn’t seem to fit well in a different role. Adding McCollum, a solid veteran who can still fill it up, and a shooter like Kispert should allow Quin Snyder to establish a more equal opportunity system with a lot of ball movement, as he prefers. Atlanta won’t likely get into the top 10 in offensive rating, but shouldn’t drop too far from 18th, where they currently sit, and if things go well, could move up a few spots.
The problem is on the other end. Atlanta should see some improvement without Young, even though McCollum and Kispert are far from defensive aces, but the roster is still missing a reliable rim protector and two-way wings. Dyson Daniels forgot how to shoot. Johnson has not progressed defensively, in part because of the major role he’s playing on offense. Kristaps Porzingis can anchor a defense, but he has struggled to stay on the court.
The Young trade on its own shouldn’t propel the Hawks up the standings. If another big move is coming to shore up a defense that ranks 16th in the league, like the rumored Anthony Davis trade, Atlanta might find a balance, at least in the short term. Otherwise, the roster seems too flawed for them to make a run at anything other than the play-in.
The market for small guards is cold, which could hurt the Spurs down the line
Such a bad return for Young would have been unimaginable a few years back. He’s always been a polarizing player, but he was a charismatic star who put up some impressive numbers, hit big shots, and could handle a massive offensive role, albeit not as well as guys like prime James Harden or Luka Doncic. The expiring contract of 34-year-old C.J. McCollum and an aggressively ordinary wing shooter would have been considered a laughably poor haul for such a player. In today’s NBA, it’s still not a good trade by the Hawks, but it seems to be in line with how the league values Young’s archetype.
Small guards who can’t switch and don’t fight hard on defense are a huge weakness. Teams hunt down matchups with those types aggressively and ruthlessly, and it takes the rest of the team executing perfectly for it not to be a major issue. If the defensively-challenged small guard is also ball-dominant, he better be absolutely elite on offense, like Jalen Brunson, to be worth the trouble. It’s partially the reason why there wasn’t a better offer on the table for Young and why guys like Ja Morant and the bigger but clueless LaMelo Ball don’t seem to have much of a market. Switchability and versatility are requirements for non-top-level creators.
Since the Spurs are not trying to trade De’Aaron Fox, that’s not a problem for them. Even if they were considering it, Fox’s combination of athleticism, active defense, and willingness to share the ball would separate him from Young. If the league continues to go in this direction, however, it could be an issue down the line if San Antonio decides to move on from him and hand over the keys to Dylan Harper.
There’s absolutely no reason to panic about this. Fox is just 28, fits well with the current core, and didn’t take that much to acquire, so even if the Spurs do eventually trade him in a couple of years (which is far from a given), they wouldn’t need a massive haul to feel like they came out on top in the aggregate. But how the league views offensive-minded guards with limited switchability should be something to monitor, since there’s one in San Antonio.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock