Trae Young expressed his excitement and gratitude at becoming the newest member of the Washington Wizards during his introductory press conference on Friday night. After nearly eight seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, Young heads to the nation’s capital in exchange for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert.
“There’s a lot of different directions I could have gone as far as my goals and what I wanted my legacy to be at the end of the day,” Young stated. “For me, just being able to have an impact on my teammates and the people around me, I feel like I did a good job of that as a young player in Atlanta. Being a vet and doing it with these young guys here, I feel like I have more experience and more things I could give these young guys.”
“I’m just super excited. For me, D.C. is overlooked as far as a big market. In the NBA, I feel like this is a big market. I’m coming to an opportunity to be myself, around people who have known me for a long time, who know the type of person that I am, and the type of winner I want to be. It’s a day-by-day process, and I know what it takes. It’s not gonna be easy, but I know this is a place I’m excited about, and I was excited about when I heard it could be a possibility,” he added.
According to reports, Young may not play at all this season, as the Washington Wizards aim to keep their lottery pick. Overall, acquiring Young is a massive coup for a team that has been mostly irrelevant in the Eastern Conference.
Washington Wizards GM dishes on their plans after acquiring Trae Young
During Trae Young’s introductory press conference, Washington Wizards general manager Will Dawkins said that acquiring the four-time NBA All-Star will boost the development of their young players and the team’s upward trajectory.
“As an organization, we have a long-term plan, and we’re not going to do anything to deviate from that,” Dawkins explained. “I think Trae fits into what we’re trying to do based on the development of a lot of the younger players.”
“When you have a four-time All-Star, All-NBA player available, who wants to come to DC and help make it what we want it to be, it was an easy partnership and an easy decision,” he added.
