It’s early in Trae Young’s pro career, but he’s already displayed the athleticism, smarts and jaw-dropping performances time after time to grab our attention.
He’s built to win. He’s built to dominate. Exhibit A: Young dropped 42 points and handed out 11 assists against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, sinking 8 of 13 3-pointers in the Atlanta Hawks’ 125-121 victory.
In short, the 21-year-old Hawks point guard is one of the NBA’s brightest young stars. His electrifying all-around game generates excitement and impacts his team in a positive way.
Ross Kreines, who regularly delivers crisp, intelligent analysis of current NBA players, summed up Trae Young this way on Twitter:
Young is currently averaging 28 points and 8.7 assists through Tuesday.
It’s quite comparable to how he played in his lone collegiate season at the University of Oklahoma, when he averaged 27.4 points and 8.4 assists to lead NCAA Division I in both categories in 2017-18. He became the first player to accomplish that feat before being chosen No. 5 overall by the Dallas Mavericks in 2018, then traded to the Hawks (the draft rights to Luka Doncic went to Dallas).
In a December 2017 game, Young dished out 22 assists for the Sooners, tying an NCAA record.
After that game, Sooners coach Lon Kruger summed up the playmaker’s game this way, according to CBS Sports: “It’s outstanding, of course. His ability to see it, then the skill to finish plays – the fact that he can shoot it well makes people get on him, so he can drive it and kick. He just makes a lot of good plays.”
