- The Miami Heat are the +400 betting favorites to land Trae Young if he leaves the Atlanta Hawks after the season.
- Young is under contract until the 2026-27 season but with the Hawks’ current struggles and the recent front office and coaching movements, there is reason to believe he may want out.
- The Hawks fired head coach Nate McMillan last Tuesday after a tumultuous campaign where he had arguments with Young.
Online sportsbooks are now favoring Atlanta Hawks superstar guard Trae Young to end up with the Miami Heat if he decides to leave the Hawks after the current NBA season.
BetOnline currently has Miami as the +400 to land Young with the Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks next at +500 and +600, respectively. The two Los Angeles teams complete the Top 5 with odds listed at +700 apiece to acquire Young.
Young signed a five-year max deal worth $270 million in 2021 and is locked up in Atlanta until the 2026-27 season, with the final year being a player option. But with the Atlanta Hawks’ struggles this season, and the recent firing of head coach Nate McMillan, Young could have a change of heart during the offseason.
Trae Young gets trashed on Twitter amid Nate McMillan exit 👀https://t.co/aCOfDIS7bt
— Hawks Nation (@HawksNationCP) February 22, 2023
Young Trashed for McMillan Firing
Young has blossomed into a legitimate superstar in Atlanta since the team traded the draft rights to Luka Doncic for Trae in 2018. After struggling to meet expectations during his rookie season, Young averaged a career-high 29.6 points per game during his rookie season and was named to the All-Star team.
He’s averaged at least 25 points per game in the past three seasons and made a second All-Star game appearance in 2022 while also making the All-NBA Third Team last season. But while Young has continued to improve individually, the Hawks have failed to capitalize on a banner 2021 campaign where they made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Hawks won 43 games last season, two more than the previous year. This year, however, has been a struggle as Atlanta sits on the cusp of the Playoffs with a 29-30 record and only 23 regular season games left to play.
Atlanta is a betting favorite to finish the regular season with under 41.5 wins at -130 and they are at even money odds to win more than 41.5 regular season games. Still, Atlanta is in playoff position, although at their current standing in the East, they will need to go through the play-in tournament to make the playoffs for the third straight season.
There have been plenty of reasons for Atlanta’s trouble this year but one of the alleged culprits was the relationship between Young and McMillan.
With the recent developments surrounding the Hawks franchise, Young has been on the receiving end of the backlash and has been trashed on social media these past couple of days.
Tension Between McMillan and Trae Young
Last December 2nd, tensions rose between Young and McMillan after the two had a heated exchange during a shootaround inside the Hawks’ practice facility. McMillan allegedly told Young that he would have to come off the bench or miss the game. That led to Young not attending Atlanta’s 117-109 home win over the Denver Nuggets.
Official records said that Young missed the game with a shoulder injury but everyone knew the real score. McMillan called it miscommunication while Young said it was a private matter.
The situation seemed to worsen weeks after that incident when it was reported that McMillan strongly considered resigning as Hawks head coach due to issues with players. McMillan addressed that issue but did not directly deny the rumor.
The two appeared to have buried the hatchet when McMillan became the 18th coach in NBA history to win at least 750 games. After that achievement, Young paid tribute to McMillan in an Instagram post where he wrote “1 of 18 to reach this. This is special!” with a rose emoji.
The Hawks also underwent a major front-office change after their slow start. General manager Travis Schlenk was relegated to an advisory role with Landry Fields taking over as GM. Meanwhile, senior adviser Rod Higgins, director of pro scouting Stephen Giles, and vice-president of player personnel Derek Pierce were fired.
Hawks have fired HC Nate McMillan, per @wojespn pic.twitter.com/SScAhWGd9R
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 21, 2023
Hawks Fire McMillan
Then last Tuesday, the Hawks fired Nate McMillan and named assistant Joe Prunty as interim head coach with GM Fields expected to look for a permanent successor as soon as Tuesday next week.
This will mark the second time Prunty will be an interim head coach in the NBA. In 2018, he temporarily took over for Jason Kidd in Milwaukee and earned a 21-16 SU regular season record. They went on to lose to the Boston Celtics in the opening round of the playoffs.
According to an ESPN report, McMillan and the Hawks were already expected to part after the season but in a change of heart, Atlanta management decided to make the change now with still time left to salvage their season and to begin the search for a new head coach.
McMillan took over as interim head coach in 2021 after Lloyd Pierce was sacked and he led the Hawks to a run to the Eastern Conference Finals. The following season, he was rewarded with a four-year contract as full-time head coach.
But the Hawks regressed last season and finished 9th in the Eastern Conference team standings. They entered the playoffs via the Play-in tournament but were eliminated by the Miami Heat 4-1 in the opening round of the playoffs. McMillan leaves with a 99-80 record as Hawks head coach.
Hawks Still Favorites to Make the Playoffs With Young
Atlanta is currently 29-30 SU on the season and they are in 8th place in the latest Eastern Conference team standings. The Hawks are just 3.5 games off the 6th-seeded New York Knicks and automatic entry in the playoffs.
The Hawks are currently in second place in the Southeast Division and are just 3 games behind the division leaders Miami Heat. Miami is however the -275 favorite to win the division with Atlanta a distant second favorite at +285 odds.
According to the online sportsbook BetOnline, Atlanta is a -150 favorite to make the playoffs and is at +120 to miss the postseason bus.
But while the oddsmakers like the Hawks’ playoff chances, they have the 3rd most difficult remaining schedule in the entire league with their last 23 regular season opponents having an aggregate winning percentage of .523.
They currently have the sixth-best odds to win the Eastern Conference but are longshots already at +5000 odds. The Hawks are also tied with the Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings with +10000 longshot odds to win the 2023 NBA title.
