Jake Fischer Says Trae Young Trade Interest Rises After Lottery Reform
Trae Young trade interest has picked up since the NBA's anti-tanking reform went into place, and that shift is tied to a league change that altered how teams weigh the bottom of the standings. Jake Fischer said there is now some renewed interest in the four-time All-Star guard compared with February.
Trae Young and February
Fischer said there was not much interest in Young in February. The guard had been viewed as a very good offensive player whose ball dominance made him a difficult fit with a lot of other high-level players.
His defensive limitations also made the fit harder to justify. Building the perfect offensive personnel around him did not seem worth the headache for teams that were not already convinced the trade price would match the role he would need.
Adam Silver's Lottery Reform
The NBA passed draft lottery reform at the end of May, and the change will become active as early as next season. The league expanded the lottery from 14 teams to 16, flattened the odds, and created a relegation zone for the bottom three teams in the league.
That shift came after complaints about tanking became a major storyline in the 2025-26 NBA season. Adam Silver listened to those complaints, and the league responded by making the worst records less attractive as a path to the top of the draft.
Why the Market Changed
On Tuesday, Fischer reported that interest in trading for Young had spiked since the anti-tanking reform was put into place. The change gives front offices a different calculation: the same bad record no longer carries the same payoff, and that can affect how much value a club places on adding a proven scorer instead of chasing draft-position upside.
Young already has the kind of résumé that keeps him in trade conversations. He is a four-time All-Star, and the Hawks previously traded one of their most accomplished players in franchise history for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert and received no draft capital. That history hangs over any Young discussion because Atlanta has already shown it will move major pieces when the return fits its timing.
For now, the clearest change is the market itself. February brought little traction for a deal, but the lottery reform and the pressure it puts on teams at the bottom have reopened the conversation around Young, whose value now sits closer to a leaguewide test of how much winning teams still want to pay for a guard with his offensive ceiling and roster-fit questions.
