Trae Young dribbling in the Atlanta Hawks game against the Washington Wizards (11/1/2021)
The fans in New York’s Madison Square Garden are particularly passionate, especially when it comes to their team, the New York Knicks, of course. However, this enthusiasm for one’s own team can very quickly turn into aversion to opponents’ players. An experience that Trae Young had to make in the past playoffs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 23-year-old point guard of the Atlanta Hawks ensured with a basket at the last minute that his team won the game in the first round of the playoffs against the Knicks with 107-105.
But Young didn’t stop there and followed suit with the announcement “It’s damned quiet in here”. The fans of the Knicks had finally found a new enemy. The animosity even went so far that a spectator spat at the playmaker in the following game. This action earned the fan a lifetime ban from Madison Square Garden.
Excreting body fluids may not be the most appetizing way of expressing displeasure, but it certainly makes one thing clear: Young is a polarizing player. Just last weekend, the NBA fined him $ 15,000 for pushing a referee in the game against the Washington Wizards. After the game, Young expressed his frustration with the new rules that allow more physical contact with throwers.
Young’s game is characterized to a not inconsiderable extent by provoking fouls. He usually converts the resulting free throws safely. This approach has already caused some anger among the opponents. Steve Nash, coach of the Brooklyn Nets, said of the way Young played in December last year: “This is not basketball.”
Last season, however, he showed that the native Texan can play basketball very well. Then he led the Hawks surprisingly into the final of the Eastern Conference with some spectacular performances. Atlanta had to admit defeat there after six games to the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks, but the win in encounter number one (116: 113) meant the Hawks’ first win in the final since the late sixties.
Thanks to Young, the Hawks have become a relevant team again. When Atlanta’s managers decided in 2018 to bring him into the NBA in fifth place in the draft at that time, they received more than just praise for their decision. Especially since they gave their right to move in third place to the Dallas Mavericks and thus waived Luka Doncic.
He was considered a new superstar in advance, while Young was rated significantly worse. There were doubts about his physical assertiveness – Young is only 185 cm tall and weighs just 82 kg – and his litter selection, which was considered too wild. At the beginning of his debut season, he first confirmed some of these (pre-) judgments, but then increased his individual performance significantly. As a result, the team also got better.
Young is now one of the most spectacular players in the league. His jersey is therefore one of the best-selling. “He’s a fantastic player. What he’s capable of despite his size … That’s incredible, “said Giannis Antetokounmpo, superstar of the Milwaukee Bucks, before the Hawks game.
Even at the start of the new season, Young delivers a decent cut with 22 points and ten templates. However, the Hawks are having a harder time overall. They lost three out of seven games. With a total of 75 games still outstanding, it is still far too early to make an assessment.
One thing is certain, however: The Hawks see their star in Young. In the summer, they equipped their number eleven with a five-year contract in which Young can earn up to 207 million US dollars.
