The Josh Giddey saga (that may be too dramatic a word) drags on as we move through the first week of September, the month in which training camp starts. Not ideal, surely, especially as one of the other high-profile restricted free agents, Cam Thomas, just agreed to his qualifying offer, which makes him an unrestricted free agent next summer. The possibility of that happening with Giddey feels realer by the day, meaning the Bulls young guard would hit the open market next summer as well.
So why not trade for Trae Young?
Okay, okay, I know that trading for Trae Young isn't something the Bulls front office can simply go accomplish on a random Thursday afternoon. There are many, many moving parts here — most importantly that the Hawks definitely don't want to trade Young — and they would all need to line up for this to be realistic.
But bear with me here; say we get to December, and the Hawks big offseason ends up being a dud. They're barely skating around .500, and they start to get concerned that Trae Young will opt out of his player option in 2026-27, so they start taking calls for their star guard. Meanwhile, the Bulls are in a similar predicament (that part doesn't take much imagining) and the front office decides to make a big swing at the deadline. That part does take some imagining, but feels more realistic because this hypothetical big trade is focused on winning now, which the decision-makers in Chicago think they've been doing for years anyway.
Hawks and Bulls have been near mirrors of each other for years
I don't know what the relationship between the front offices of these teams is like, but there has to be some solidarity considering both have been obsessed with being in or around the play-in since its creation, right?
In other words, both teams might need to shake things up, and both teams have guards who they likely fear they'll lose after this season. Here's an idea that works if Giddey does end up signing a qualifying offer:
I don't think either fanbase is going to like this trade, but I think it's a beautiful, flawless masterpiece. It works for Chicago because they get a firestarter on offense to assist (literally) in the development of Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue. It works for Atlanta (or at least the hypothetical version of Atlanta that underperforms next season) because it effectively hands the keys to Jalen Johnson and Zaccharie Risacher while also stocking up on future picks to surround them with other young talent.
This would be, frankly, a panic move for both sides. Panic from the Hawks because they get scared of losing Young for nothing, and panic from the Bulls because they finally see a chance to get the star they've always wanted and act impulsively to get it done even though they may lose him next summer as well.