Trae Young’s All-Star snub should come as no surprise to anyone that watches this Atlanta Hawks team. I’m sick of people praising Trae Young’s stats and giving him a pass for being on losing teams. Young is the reason that the Atlanta Hawks are falling short of expectations. Just last season the frustrated Hawks point guard went to his front office wanting the roster around him to see major upgrades so they have a chance of earning a post-season berth. He had a point then, as the Hawks were bottomfeeders in the Eastern Conference, finishing as one of the worst teams in both offensive and defensive ratings while having no real talent surrounding Trae and forward John Collins.
The Hawks did oblige his request and brought in plenty of help to turn this organization back into a winning one. With the offseason additions of, Rajon Rondo, Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Onyeka Okongwu to this roster. Along with Clint Capela returning from injury and internal growth from wings like De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish, there was no reason the Hawks shouldn’t be making progress towards a winning record and a playoff appearance. Especially in a season where getting the 10th seed allows you to have a chance at earning a playoff matchup in the NBA’s new playoff format.
Trae Young Is Not A Winning Basketball Player
Many sportsbooks and analysts expected the Hawks to make major improvements to their record this season. Many had the Hawks finishing around 35 or 36 wins, which during a shortened 72 game season is .500 level basketball. However, the Hawks are looking like they are clearly going to fall short of the expectations set for them and all of the blame should go to Trae Young. Atlanta’s record is currently 13-18, sitting at 11th in the Eastern Conference that isn’t exactly filled with amazing teams outside of the top four seeds.
The reason for this disappointing season is simply that Trae Young’s style of play does not lead to wins. Trae Young’s style of play causes frustration with his teammates like John Collins who has expressed his disapproval in how the Hawks offensive sets are implemented. Young is a usage rate monster at 32.8 % which is the fifth-highest in the league this season. Everything is going through Young in the Hawks offense which often leads to a poor selection of shots and ill-timed passes which demoralizes his teammates. In short Trae Young has quickly become a cancer for the Hawks and is not a winning player.
Why Trae Young’s All-Star Snub Is No Surprise
Yes, Trae Young is averaging insane numbers on the season with 27 points per game, 9.6 assists per game, and is currently sixth in the NBA on made threes but these stats come as a detriment to his team’s success.
Why should Young be rewarded for putting up empty stats on a team that has been completely underwhelming this season. The NBA coaches made the right call by not rewarding Trae Young with an All-Star selection this year. Plenty of young point guards with less talent surrounding them are contributing to making their teams better such as De’Aaron Fox and Ja Morant and if they weren’t selected to be All-Stars. Trae Young deserved absolutely no consideration for the honor. Trae Young’s All-Star chances should be zero until he finds a way to contribute to winning so in no way was he a snub this season.
