Trae Young overlooked once again.
Editor’s note: This is the first post from new Peachtree Hoops contributor Austin McCall. We’re excited to have him on the staff and help with our coverage of the Atlanta Hawks.
Stats, records and figures were correct as of the date of writing (i.e. prior to yesterday’s Pacers game.
Snubbed…there’s the only way to say it.
Atlanta lost its seventh game in a row and its first to the no. 1 in the Eastern Conference Cleveland Cavs, but for the fans there was a bigger takeaway from the night. Trae Young missed out on the All-Star Game again, this time as the league leader in assists and the league leader in double-double points/assists games (once again). Also just for good measure, he leads the East in 30 and 20-point-10 assist games in what most envisioned as a transition year for the Atlanta Hawks.
This begs the question: what do the coaches want from Trae Young and why? Why is Trae Young treated as the NBA’s unwanted stepchild?
From the second he walked into the NBA Trae Young has been an offense unto himself. Since this decade started no one in the NBA has dished more assists, and Trae lands at fifth on the scoring list during that same time frame — placing him in an elite club that only he and Nikola Jokic get to dance at. So how is it possible that Trae has only been voted into the All-Star game once (2021-22) during the entire decade without being an injury reserve?
The list of players who have averaged 20 points and 10 assists in a season and didn’t make the all-star game are Micheal Adams (1991), Russell Westbrook (2021), and Trae Young…twice. Not being a shoe-in as an All-Star starter comes with the territory when your basketball team isn’t one of the four elite teams in your conference, but for Trae Young to miss the All-Star Game for Cade Cunningham (who I believe deserved it) and Tyler Herro when we as Atlanta fans have had to hear FOR YEARS that winning matters when it comes to awards and accolades feels like a slap in the face from the biggest ring-covered hand on the planet.
Before this past month of injuries, the Atlanta Hawks had gotten as high as sixth in the East and were even a game away from the NBA Cup Championship. The same NBA Cup that rocketed Tyrese Haliburton to top PG in the NBA conversations, an All-Star Game and the Olympics by the way, but please don’t look at that sentence too closely.
How can the coaches reward Cade Cunningham when (by their own rules) he hasn’t been a winning player? The Pistons sit a whopping TWO GAMES ahead of the seven game-losing streak Hawks. For every 10-assist game Cade puts up, he has six or more turnovers.
Tyler Herro? We’re barely talking about the same sport.
The Heat also sit two games ahead of the Hawks while Herro is asked by the Heat to be the spark to their offense. He’s also widely considered to be the third best player on his basketball team.
How do you compare a steak from Ruth Chris to potatoes from KFC?
Herro is, and has been, a complementary piece. He’s not asked to be the engine to an offense nor has he ever shown the ability to create constantly for others. So how, when you look at what they both mean to their team’s success, how do you decide that he deserves the nod? Very good player, but in my opinion not All-Star worthy.
I’ve heard the efficiency arguments. I laughed at them. There has been no guard in the East asked to do more offensively for his team since 2018 than Trae Young, and until this season the Hawks’ best secondary ball handler in eight seasons has been Lou Williams.
When you don’t get to pick and choose your spots offensively, your efficiency will suffer. Trae has made huge strides as a defender the past two season,s and this season he even took another step forward by giving Jalen Johnson more room to develop while also helping nurture rookie no. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher.
Trae has become the leader that we always thought he could be, and before the Hawks started to lose pieces the team’s record reflected that. The constant award snubs are putting Trae in a precarious position that strikes fear in my heart as a supporter of the team.
NBA players have a certain amount of time to carve out their place in the NBA hierarchy — we are in year-8 of his career and entering his prime. He has to be wondering “Is this as high as I can go here?”