While Trae Young's trade value may be at an all-time low, Bill Simmons believes there's one organization the Hawks should negotiate with.

His return should give the reeling Hawks, currently saddled with a 15-19 record, a much-needed spark. Atlanta has lost seven straight and its defense has generally been a no-show. They have given up 126 or more points in their last nine losses. Atlanta is 23rd in defensive field goal percentage at 47.9.

For the first time since the 2021-22 season, the Hawks have been getting beat up on the boards in an alarming way.

The Hawks haven’t always played badly in this stretch; they lost at the buzzer to a good Knicks team and were beaten by a phantom call in the second loss to the Bulls. The underlying stats still say they’re more of an average team than a bad one — 16th in offense, 17th in defense, 18th in Net Rating.

Karl-Anthony Towns scored a season-high 36 points with 16 rebounds, Jalen Brunson had 34 points and the New York Knicks survived Atlanta’s late comeback attempt to beat the slumping Hawks 128-125.

Kevin Durant is a basketball savant. He knows the game through and through. Better yet, he's a historian. He's educated himself on the history of the league. An

Heading into this contest, without Young and Johnson — the team’s two leading assist-makers and two primary scorers — there wasn’t a ton of optimism or hope for the Hawks heading on the road, having lost six straight games,