Atlanta Hawks: Where Trae Young Left Off in 2019-20

It’s been nearly nine months since the Atlanta Hawks last played an NBA game. As we near the long-awaited restart, let’s take a look back at where their superstar left off.

In the Atlanta Hawks’ final contest of the 2019-20 season, Trae Young had one of the best games of his career. At the very least, he had one of the best quarters of his career, scoring 27 points in the final period to complete the team’s comeback and force overtime versus New York.

In his final 10 games of the season, Young averaged 29.5 points and 10.1 assists per game, both nearly identical to his season averages. He led the Hawks to a 5-5 record, a solid record by that team’s standards.

He kicked off that 10-game stretch with a bang, scoring a career-high 50 points against the Heat on Feb. 20th. As mentioned, he ended the year sizzling as well, scoring 41 in the team’s final contest.

But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. The All-Star point guard had arguably the two of his worst games of the season in that stretch too, scoring just 19 points on 5-of-17 shooting on March 2nd and 16 on 4-of-16 in his next contest.

Young hit the opposite of a sophomore slump in 2019-20, but that two-game stretch was some of his weakest showings ever.

But let’s not get it twisted: Young was one of the best guards in the league all season and should be the same in the 2020-21 season.

Even if the final stretch of his season was a tad mild by his superstar standards, there’s no indication that we should expect that to continue.

Another thing to watch is the guard’s defense. Young – while still nowhere near a Defensive Player of the Year candidate – was playing his best defense to end last season. It’ll be very interesting to see if he can continue to step that aspect of his game up, especially with the plethora of new talent around him.

Young didn’t end the 2019-20 season on fire but he was still playing like a top player in the league. We don’t expect there to be any rust on him, although his points could decrease while his assists rise with the Atlanta Hawks’ reloaded roster. That should equate to more wins.

What are your expectations for Trae Young in 2020-21?