Four major predictions for the 2022/23 Atlanta Hawks

1) Trae Young will lead the league in total points and assists for a second consecutive year.

Trae Young in the 2021/22 season accomplished something that had only been done once before in NBA history: leading the league in total points and assists. Young’s 28.4 points and 9.7 assists per game tally were enough to see him match an achievement first put forth by Tiny Archibald in 1973.

With that said, the idea that Young could potentially accomplish this for only the third time in history – and back-to-back at that – seems extremely improbable. However, there’s no doubt that Young has the extremely unique skillset to be able to do it again. The addition of star guard Dejounte Murray in a trade with the San Antonio Spurs over the offseason should only enable Young further.

Murray brings with him 21.1 points per game from last season, giving Young his second ever 20-plus point per game teammate and his first since John Collins in 2019/20. The scoring prowess and floor spacing ability of Murray will be the greatest asset to Young when he is the primary ball handler. With the Hawks returning most of their major minute-getters from last season save Kevin Huerter, this could very well lead to more assist opportunities for Trae.

As well, Murray brings over an impressive assist tally of 9.2 per game, which could see Young with more off-ball scoring opportunities to help him get back to last year’s lofty standards in that department.