Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young is not putting up empty stats; he’s a future superstar
Trae Young is one of the NBA’s best young players and is a budding superstar for the Atlanta Hawks
Trae Young has had controversy surrounding him since the second he stepped into the league. The hate was unreal that he received after a poor performance in the NBA summer league, and the general public was already declaring him a bust before his first regular-season minute in the league.
The hate was just as strong through the first half of the season with the Atlanta Hawks, and despite proving himself it still follows him today.
Since then, Trae Young has been even better. This year Trae is destroying the NBA, scoring 29.2 points per game (3rd in the league) on 44.7 percent shooting and getting an incredible nine assists per game (2nd in the league). This is insane production for any second-year player, and the fact that he had so many doubters only makes it even more ridiculous what Trae is doing now.
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Trae isn’t even two years deep in the league and he already has been chosen as an all-star starter. This is an accolade that only goes to the best and most popular players in the league.
An interesting question about Trae Young is; what is the next for him? In just two years in the league, Trae is among the most statistically productive players in the league. Although he is popular, I still do not think he is getting the respect he deserves. People talk down about him because the Hawks do not have a good record this year and claim that Trae Young does not impact winning.
There are a few things that disprove this claim to me. The first is the sheer amount of assists Trae Young gets. Trae is second in the entire league in finding open teammates and getting assists. Passing wins games, unselfishness wins games, and surely the second-best passer in the league has an impact on winning games.
Furthermore, Trae has the ninth-best Player Efficiency Rating (PER) in the league at 24.2. Here is the definition of PER, according to John Hollinger:
"“The PER sums up all a player’s positive accomplishments, subtracts the negative accomplishments, and returns a per-minute rating of a player’s performance.”"
In my own words, THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT STATISTIC. For comparison, Kyrie Irving spent seven years in the league before posting a PER above 24 and by that time he had already been to four all-star games. Based on this information, Trae Young is playing like an elite guard in just his second season.
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Trae is a starter for the all-star game this year, he deserves it. He is one of the most exciting players to watch in the NBA, but just last season he had as many haters as he had fans. The number has decreased as he is breaking out, but he still does not get the respect he deserves. The Hawks aren’t a force in this league yet, but if they hang on to Trae Young, they will be a top team in the East in the next few years.