Trash talk and caviar: Trae Young, the NBA needs it so much

There are places in the NBA where everything makes a little more noise and in its genre, Madison Square Garden is there. Just as much as the franchise it inhabits, the New York venue is legendary and the biggest stars have always loved to shine there. This is also where Michael Jordan made his comeback in 1995 with 55 points, and where LeBron James responded to Kobe Bryant’s 61 points by winning 52-11-9 two nights later. Trae Young is nothing, or almost nothing, compared to these monsters, but he too has forged a special relationship with the Garden.

Call him “Dice Trae” from now on. From the end of 2024, and for the rest of his career, Young wants to be nicknamed like this, a variation of “Ice Trae”, the nickname that had followed him until now for the coolness that would flow in the veins of this brilliant pocket leader (1.85m, all the same). But since he imagined a celebration that will remain, the 26-year-old Texan wants to impose his idea to keep track of his trash-talking on Wednesday evening after his team’s success against New York.

Beating the Big Apple franchise in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup meant for the Hawks the assurance of flying to Las Vegas where the semis and final of the league’s winter competition will be played this weekend. Vegas, the city of gambling, inspired a Young, miming a roll of the dice at the Knicks logo at midfield.

A plan thought out in advance rather than an idea at the moment and the opportunity for the leader of Atlanta to increase his hatred rating a little more in the city that never sleeps, legacy of a series of the 1st round of the 2021 Playoffs, a sort of birth certificate for him with big performances and a wide open mouth to boot.

Trae Young is like that, he can rarely stop himself from opening it. We do not yet classify him, and probably never, among the great trash-talkers of NBA history such as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird or Gary Payton, but he does not have many equals among his peers and even if he does not always lead his franchise to success. In his career, his win-loss ratio is also negative (196-236) despite obvious leadership qualities.

Twenty-five points and barely less than ten assists, these are the averages of the man who was exchanged for a certain Luka Doncic on the evening of the 2018 draft, a link that will never leave them and a curse for Young who will, a priori, have , very difficult to make the comparison.

The 26-year-old man has no shortage of arguments with already two seasons above 28 units and the last two with more than 10 assists. Young, compared to Stephen Curry – of whom he is obviously a spiritual son -, for his ability to shoot from anywhere, is among the best attackers in the NBA and the current season is no exception to the rule.

His average of 12.2 passes is the benchmark this season. No one has finished an NBA season above 12 caviars since John Stockton in… 1995. After distributing 22 offerings, a record for him, on November 27, Young did it again with 20 assists (accompanied by 31 points) against at the Lakers last week. Will he be able to set a 34-year-old NBA record with Scott Skiles’ 30 assists one evening in December 1990? No doubt he has the means.

Still, shining individually seems to be the best thing Trae Young knows how to do. After taking his team to the conference final at the end of a magnificent Playoff campaign in 2021, the leader of the Hawks never made it past the first round again and was not even qualified in 2024. A time announced at the start , notably to form a baroque but terribly exciting duo on the Spurs side with Victor Wembanyama, Young stayed.

Unless there is a miracle, he will not seek the title at the end of the season. The NBA Cup, of which the Hawks are playing in the semi-final this Saturday against Milwaukee, is their best opportunity to win a “trophy” this year. In Las Vegas, the magician Young will put on a show.