Atlanta Hawks: Will Trae Young Make An All-NBA Team?

Can Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young make an All-NBA team?

A few days back, the NBA released a memo that the regular season awards would be based solely on how the league played out before the initial hiatus on March 11th. That gives the eight teams not invited to Orlando, including the Atlanta Hawks, a better chance of showing up on award ballots.

Just by the nature of those eight teams not being that successful, they likely were never going to have much of a presence at the award circuit, anyways. But there are exceptions.

Detroit’s Derrick Rose has an outside shot for Sixth Man of the Year, Devonte’ Graham of the Hornets is up for Most Improved Player, and a handful of rookies such as Cam Reddish, De’Andre Hunter, P.J Washington, Darius Garland, and Coby White could be named to an All-Rookie Team.

Perhaps the biggest name left out of the return to play, however, is Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young. Young would likely be a darkhorse MVP candidate if his team wasn’t the fourth-worst in the league, but Trae is still in the hunt for an All-NBA team.

In a year with more competition, Young’s lack of defense and team success would keep him out of contention for a spot, but the league’s guard class was weak this season due to injuries to big-name players like Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry, Victor Oladipo, and Klay Thompson.

There are still some true stars, including the resurgent Chris Paul, that voters will have to weigh putting in over Young. Let’s look at the field as it sits now:

Locks:

• Luka Doncic
• Damian Lillard
• James Harden

On the bubble:

• Chris Paul
• Russell Westbrook
• Trae Young
• Kyle Lowry
• Ben Simmons (could be voted as a forward)

Outside shots:

• Bradley Beal
• Jimmy Butler, Khris Middleton (could be forwards)
• Kemba Walker
• Donovan Mitchell
• Devin Booker

The competition really drops off after the three locks, leaving about nine players to fight for the final three spots. Ben Simmons is a major question mark, as the NBA’s near-archaic positioning system may force voters to put him as a forward, despite him almost always running the Philly offense and ranking 5th in assists per game.

Trae Young should be second-team if the Hawks’ (lack of) success wasn’t a factor like we know it is for some voters. As it stands now, he’ll be lucky to land on the third-team. Despite his outlandish, MVP-like offensive numbers, Trae has his fair share of critics.

Although a truly individual award, some hard-headed voters will see the Atlanta Hawks’ record and keep Young off their ballots for that reason alone. Last season, two players – Kemba Walker and LeBron James – made All-NBA teams with a losing team record. Both were on the third-team.

What Others Are Saying:

• Brad Botkin, CBS Sports: Luka and Harden first-team, Dame and Westbrook second-team, Trae and CP3 third-team.
• Shane Young, Forbes: Luka, Harden first-team, Dame and Paul second-team, Lowry and Simmons third-team. (No Trae)
• Caleb Shaffer, Vendetta Sports: Luka and Harden first-team, Dame and Trae second-team, Russ, and CP3 third-team.
• Dribble Analytics: Harden and Dame first-team, Luka and Simmons second-team, Booker, and Trae third-team. This one I highly recommend reading. Great breakdown using a plethora of advanced stats and analytics. It also features a table showing each player’s probability of making the All-NBA team, with Trae owning a 94 percent shot according to them.

Wrap

Based on individual stats alone, Trae Young should easily be on an All-NBA team. Like I said earlier, this year’s guard class is pretty weak, and the lack of defense and team wins would keep him out of a normal season’s All-NBA team.

But with the current competition, Young belongs on the third-team, at the very least. Will that happen? Maybe. It depends on the position classification of Ben Simmons – and Khris Middleton and Jimmy Butler to a lesser extent – and the voter’s ability to not be swayed by recently bias after watching the Orlando bubble players.

Would you vote for Trae Young to make an All-NBA team?