No. 5: Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
2020-21 Stats: 25.3 PPG/3.9 RPG/9.4 APG/.438/.343/.886
You know how Ja Morant’s ranking got a little *oomph* because of his success in the play-in tournament? Well, that effect applied ten-fold to Trae Young. The third-year player had an incredible regular season and was somehow not an All-Star?? In the Eastern Conference?? Sad.
Unfortunately for the EC, that’s the type of thing that fuels Trae.
Fueled him right to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Hawks have great coaching and are pretty loaded depth-wise, but don’t think two ways about it. This is Trae Young’s team. They go where he goes. And they got as far as a tight series en route to the Finals before their leader went down with an injury. Then, he had to watch the team they lost to win the NBA Title.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, though, that’s exactly the type of thing that fuels Ice Trae. 30+ points per game incoming.