Trae Young has seen his free throw attempts cut nearly in half this season, and now he has something to say about it.
After Thursday’s loss to the Washington Wizards, the Atlanta Hawks star sounded off on the lack of foul calls due to the NBA’s new rule change.
“I don’t want to get fined too much, but it’s frustrating,” said Young, per ESPN. “There’s a lot of missed calls. It’s basketball, it’s just, it feels that [the officials are] learning, and they’re just — I don’t know. It’s frustrating.
“I saw James [Harden] said it’s about him, but it’s not targeting just one or two players,” continued Young. “You can watch basketball. Damian Lillard’s never averaged 17 points probably since his rookie year. There’s a couple guys. I mean, Book [Devin Booker] is averaging 18. There’s a lot of things that, when guys are driving straight, guys are getting knocked off balance — it’s still a foul, whether they’re using their lower body or their hands.”
The league has notably cracked down this season on offensive players going out of their way to initiate contact with defenders. That has led to many top scoring guards having a difficult time getting free throws and thus scoring efficiently. It is especially so for a player like Young, who had become a serial foul-baiter.
Young, whose free throw attempts have gone down from 8.7 per game last season to 4.4 per game this season, recently revealed his strategy for dealing with the new rules. Unfortunately though, it does not appear to be working for him at this point.
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