Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young Flashed All-Star Future vs. Pistons

A quick look at Trae Young’s amazing play in the Atlanta Hawks vs. Detroit Pistons game.

Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks made their regular season debut last night against the Detroit Pistons. Sure, the Pistons might have been without Blake Griffin, they were on the second night of a back-to-back, and they lost Reggie Jackson early in the game due to an apparent injury, but the Hawks still looked thoroughly excellent in the team’s debut on Thursday night.

In particular, Young was a beast against Detroit as he (once again) victimized Bruce Brown of the Pistons with multiple nasty crossovers and ultra-deep triples.

Peep some of Young’s highlights below:

As you can see, Trae was truly “on one” against the Pistons, and he was showcasing his skill of being the best “ultra-deep” three-point shooter in the league with reckless abandon.

Just so we have it, Young’s final stat line was truly eye-popping: 38 points on 11 of 21 shooting (including 6 of 10 from deep and 10 of 12 from the line) with 9 assists, 7 rebounds and 1 steal in 37 minutes of action. Young also finished with a game-best +17 in on/off rating.

Due to Young’s gravity he was getting double-teamed around half-court, yet he was still able to absolutely carve up defenses with his shooting and, most notably, his passing. Ice Trae helped pilot the Hawks to a lofty 75 percent shooting percentage at the rim according to Cleaning the Glass, and the team also finished with a 58.2 effective field goal percentage – good for the 89th percentile.

Again, caveats apply, but this was exactly the kind of game Atlanta Hawks fans were hoping for from Trae Young to begin the 2019-20 season. Young should’ve been awarded a share of the Rookie of the Year award, but let’s hope he can build upon that tremendous first year with a rock-solid sophomore campaign.

The early returns are good, so let’s hope he “keeps that same energy” for the rest of the season.