Trae Young has quickly become one of the players that fans love to hate. I have no idea where it stems from, but the Hawks superstar has done things nobody has ever done in this league.
Young has accomplished so much before the age of 25 — All-NBA, All-Star starter, conference finals appearance, the league leader in total assists and points, career 26 points and 9.3 assists per game, and has the fourth-most 30 point and 10 assists games behind only James Harden, LeBron James, and Russell Westbrook.
It’s crazy the standard Trae Young is held to. It’s become hilarious who fans say they’d rather have over Young because of his defensive liability, which is why it’s nice to see Bleacher Report recognize him as the most underrated player in the league.
Trae Young’s entire NBA career is the five-year sample size we’re talking about here. And it didn’t take long for fans and pundits alike to focus more on his shortcomings than the fact that he’s off to one of the hottest starts in NBA history.
Yes, he’s small. No, he isn’t a plus defender. And sure, his shot selection can leave you scratching your head. Young’s 35.1 career three-point percentage might even be lower than a lot of people realize, too.
But even with those weaknesses, Young has been a massive plus for the Atlanta Hawks throughout his brief career.
During his five seasons, Atlanta is minus-0.6 points per 100 possessions when he plays, but it’s minus-3.7 without him. If you limit the sample to the last three years, those numbers are plus-2.9 with Young and minus-0.7 without him.
Those numbers are the result of offensive engineering that few players across history have been able to pull off. Young has had almost exclusive control of most Hawks possessions when he’s on the floor, and their offenses for his five seasons have ranked in the 89th, 99th, 99th, 97th and 93rd percentiles, respectively.
If that doesn’t convince you he belongs here, maybe a bit of history will.
Young has 8,990 points and 3,285 assists in his career. Oscar Robertson is the only other player in NBA history to match or exceed both totals in his first 353 NBA games.
Did you read that last line? “Young has 8,990 points and 3,285 assists in his career. Oscar Robertson is the only other player in NBA history to match or exceed both totals in his first 353 NBA games.”
Big O is regarded as one of the 20 best players of all time, and he’s the only one to have more points and assists than Trae Young in his first 353 games.
Young is one of the best facilitators in basketball, which is a throwback because a lot of the best point guards in the league are score-first — Kyrie Irving, Steph Curry, Damian Llilard, etc.
Young could walk on water, cure cancer, or any other miracle, and someone would still find a way to hate him. Real ones recognize his talent, though.
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