One former teammate might not be getting a gift basket from Trae Young this year.
The Atlanta Hawks star Young made negative headlines in recent days for a reported incident with Hawks head coach Nate McMillan. Young skipped a game against the Denver Nuggets after an alleged exchange with McMillan at shootaround that morning.
Speaking this week on FanDuel TV, ex-NBA forward Chandler Parsons made some critical remarks about Young amid the drama.
“He can’t do this,” said Parsons of Young. “[The Hawks] have invested way too much in him, they’ve given him the keys… This is his fifth season. You can’t do this. You can’t let your teammates down. You’ve gotta be bigger than this at the moment … Trae’s gotta mature a little bit.”
Parsons, who was teammates with Young on the Hawks during the 2019-20 season, also said that Young is “my guy” and added that he did not quite agree with how McMillan handled the situation either.
The two-time All-Star Young, who is Atlanta’s unquestioned leader, issued a response on Twitter to the whole spectacle that sounded pretty dismissive. On the one hand, Young is a top-five offensive point guard in the NBA and has already led the Hawks to a conference finals appearance in his career. But on the other hand, there are some signs that this is a larger pattern of Young being uncoachable.
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