Despite being one of the best offensive weapons in the league, Trae Young is the NBA’s most disrespected player! This disrespect has come from various sources; NBA executives, award voters, and even NBA2k. Trae Young has the skillset, production, and impact to warrant consideration as one of the league’s ten best players, yet was barely voted top 10 for under 25 years old players to build around.
GM Poll
15 GMs were polled and asked to rank their top five players to build a franchise around (under 25 years old). Their results gave them a top five of Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, Ja Morant, Evan Mobley, and Anthony Edwards. Also ahead of Trae Young in this poll were Zion Williamson, Scottie Barnes, and LaMelo Ball. Trae was tied for 9th place, receiving just 4% of the vote! Even more alarming, he slipped from 5th place when they did this same exercise last season!
Exclusive Company
Those results show that Young’s horrific postseason performance turned off the GMs because otherwise, this was by far Trae’s best season of his career. Young led the league in total points and total assists this past season. He became the 2nd player in NBA History to accomplish this feat and the first in nearly 50 years (49, to be exact)! Young also finished top 5 in PPG and APG among qualifiers. Most of his peers didn’t match that offensive production, with Luka Doncic, ranked 1st on the GMs list, coming closest.
Ideal Franchise Player
In this poll, one of the executives told HoopsHype, “Young is a game changer. We play in a guard’s league. He carries his team and makes everyone around him better.” What more could you want from a franchise centerpiece, especially this early in his career?
Playoff Success
As for his horrific playoff series, Trae gets no passes for how poorly he played. However, he has already led the Hawks to the ECF and played phenomenal basketball during that run. In the 2021 playoffs, Trae averaged 29 PPG & 10 APG vs. the Knicks, 29 PPG & 11 APG vs. the 76ers, and 28 PPG & 7 APG vs. the Bucks. Besides Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum, the top 2 players on this list, no other player has proven what Trae Young has in the postseason.
All-NBA Snub
The next example of Trae Young’s disrespect was his placement on the 3rd team All-NBA. The All-NBA teams are supposed to acknowledge the best players at their positions during the regular season. All-NBA is not an MVP discussion, so using team success to quantify individual output makes less sense here. Looking at Young’s production and impact, he was far more worthy of 1st team All-NBA consideration than 3rd team.
Luka and Trae tied for first among guards in per-game scoring, with Trae having more total points. Trae finished 2nd among All-NBA guards in APG, and assist points created only behind Chris Paul, who led the league in both categories. Trae even shot a slightly higher 3PT% than Stephen Curry on a very high volume! Despite all of this evidence, Young got 0 first-team votes and just 11 second-team votes! If you would’ve given those stats to Stephen Curry or James Harden, I find it very hard to fathom them not making the first team.
NBA2K23
NBA2k23 recently got in on the Trae Young disrespect. They released their top 10 highest-rated players, and not only did Young not make the list, but he was also three overall points lower than number 10, Jimmy Butler. Young was tied with Chris Paul for 4th on their point guards list despite averaging double his PPG. Trae’s 3PT rating is an 86, which also feels a bit low for someone with his logo range and efficiency despite the shot difficulty.
Too Small
Critics have labeled Trae Young too small, too ball-dominant, and a defensive liability. Young is listed at 6’1, but some speculate that he’s less than 6 feet tall. Being undersized in the NBA is a barrier to success. However, Young has overcome that barrier with elite shooting, scoring, passing, and ball-handling skills.
Ball Dominant
Young is a very ball-dominant player, but that is where he is at his best. Why wouldn’t you want the ball in the hands of such a dynamic player? Trae’s also required to have the ball in his hands, given the teams he’s been on. Adding another playmaker in Dejounte Murray should allow him not to have so many on-ball responsibilities. However, he does need to grow as an off-ball player.
Defensive Liability
Young is a defensive liability; there is no way around it. He will probably always be one. We don’t expect most offensive engines to be plus defenders, especially at the point guard position. If Young were good at defense, he would be a cheat code. We’ll have to settle with a one-way cheat code with two ways to carve up a defense.
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