Atlanta Hawks star sounds off on Trae Young amid reports of dysfunction

People in glass houses should not throw stones. That seems to be how most athletes wish the media would approach various (minor) transgressions. The locker room and, by extension, the practice facility is supposed to be a place both of refuge and solidarity.

There have been cracks in that foundation for the Atlanta Hawks who lamented the public nature of a report detailing a disagreement between Trae Young and head coach Nate McMillan.

Pressed for the details, Young would only say it was a private matter that the Hawks would handle accordingly while insisting that people on the outside would not understand. McMillan has much of the same message, brushing the conflict off as a thing of the past, though he did clarify that he “would never” tell a player not to show up to the arena after Young decided to miss one.

Amid a new report detailing their disharmony, Dejounte Murray was asked for his input.

Atlanta Hawks star Dejounte Murray spoke out about reported chemistry issues with Trae Young

“People that are judging our team, are clearly not watching our games or they’re not really fans of our team, because we haven’t been healthy,” Murray said, per Kevin Chouinard of NBA.com, “We haven’t had every single body that we need to go where we want to go.”

Murray has been back for two games after missing five straight with an ankle injury. Teammate John Collins missed eight straight games while the Hawks did not have Bogdan Bogdanovic for the first 22 games of the campaign. Young has missed three games while Clint Capela has missed three of the last four including the most recent loss to the Bulls.

The consternation over the fit between Murray and Young began in the summer and has been easier to continue with their record – and performance – as uneven as it is.

But talk of a looming demise feels overblown as we inch closer to the trade deadline.

Atlanta is outscoring opponents by 3.9 points per 100 possessions with Murray and Young on the floor together, ranking in the 74th percentile, per Cleaning The Glass. And their intended starting five’s net rating is even higher at plus-9.4.

The Hawks starting five has seen the second-most qualifying possessions in Cleaning The Glass’ rankings. But the games those players have missed have caused an already shaky bench to be even further compromised through the removal of needed firepower like Bogdanovic, rookie AJ Griffin, and Onyeka Okongwu who has filled in for Capela.

As for Young, his early-season shooting woes have given way to a nice run – he’s shooting over 46% from beyond the arc over the last three games after shooting under 29% before that.

“He’s doing good,” Murray said, “Last night I told him at halftime, ‘Me and everybody else have got to be better. Even yourself, you’ve got to figure out what you can get better at.’…I think last night, he was catching and shooting and they was falling for him. I think it was good, not just for him, but for our whole team.”

Chouinard notes that it was Murray who facilitated the first pair in a flurry of threes from Young that helped get the Hawks back into the game.

The two have seemingly had a strong relationship since the trade – which Young pushed for – went down this summer. They even put what their future could look like at its peak in pro-am action.

Murray’s message of the only goal being team success has been consistent.

But, until the Hawks can find a way to close out the games they should in the manner that they should, the Hawks’ future as a collective will continue to be under the microscope.