Last Word on Pro Basketball’s Top 30 NBA Players: Trae Young

Although ranking the top 30 NBA players in today’s game is an incredibly difficult task, The Last Word on Pro Basketball staff has taken it on. Coming in at number 26 in the countdown is Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young.

Top 30 NBA Players

Number 26 – Trae Young

Young played high school basketball at Norman North High School in Norman, Oklahoma. Young started playing hi percents sophomore year of high school and quickly became a star. By his senior year, he was averaging 42 points per game. He led Norman North to the Oklahoma Class 6A Championship Game.

As a five star recruit out of high school, Young went to the University of Oklahoma. He was a star during his one year there. After clearly outgrowing the NCAA game, Young entered into the 2018 NBA Draft and was selected fifth overall by the Dallas Mavericks. Young was immediately traded to the Atlanta Hawks along with a first-round pick for the draft rights to international star Luka Doncic. 

Strengths

Trae Young is really good at shooting the basketball. Ok, now that we have gotten the obvious strength out of the way, let’s take a look at what exactly makes Young such a dynamic offensive player. In his rookie season, Young was criticized for often taking inefficient shots from long range and for not making the smart pass when he received the double team.

In the 2019-20 season, Young was arguably the most improved player, going from 19.1 points per game to 29.6. Young also increased his true shooting from 53.9 percent to 59.5 percent. Taking more shots, playing more minutes, and with a higher usage rate than in his rookie season, Young showed tremendous offensive growth and was one of the best pure scorers in the game this year. Overall, Young increased his per-game averages in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and all shooting percentages. He did this all while playing five more minutes a night. 

Weaknesses

Trae Young is not really the best defender. Although he averages 1.1 steals a game and has improved in that area, his overall defensive metrics are below average for a point guard. Young has a total of 1.1 defensive win shares in his 141 career games played. To provide context for how poor that number is, Stephen Curry, averages about 2.67 defensive win shares per season he has played. That is over four times the rate of Young.

For the amount of criticism Curry has received for being a poor defender, Young makes Curry look like an All-Defensive first Team guard. Giving some hope for Hawks fans, Curry has improved tremendously as a defender as his career has progressed, a path that Young could absolutely follow. Standing at 6’1” inch tall, Young is simply limited on the defensive end by his size. That is something Curry dealt with earlier in his career as well. In order for Young to truly become a top 10 NBA player, his defensive attributes must improve at least to the level of Curry, if not better. 

Career Accolades

Although Young has not been in the NBA for even two full seasons, he holds a decent slate of accolades. In high school, Young was a McDonald’s All-American and participated in the heralded Jordan Brand Classic.

While in college at the University of Oklahoma, Young was the NCAA scoring and assists leader. Young also won the Wayman Tisdale Award which is given to the most outstanding freshman male player in the NCAA. Young rounded out his accomplishments in the NCAA by being selected consensus First Team All-American, First-team All-Big 12, and was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year.

In the NBA, Young was a 2020 All-Star and made the NBA All-Rookie First team in 2019. Now, he has been named to Last Word on Pro Basketball top 30 NBA players ranking.

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