Coming off of a rookie season that saw Atlanta Hawks future star Trae Young finish second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic, Young wanted to follow it up with a bang and he did just that!
Many players who have a great rookie season hit the so-called “sophomore slump.”
A few players go through it, but not Young. Instead, the Hawks star they call “Ice Trae” gave fans a season worthy of remembering!
Although the roster around Young was not ready to compete for a championship or even a playoff spot, that didn’t stop him from having a masterful individual season. Young came out of the gates strong as in his first two games versus the Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic, Young scored 38 and 39 points respectively. Not to mention he had 9 assists in each of those games. How did he follow it up? With a 25-point, 9-assist performance versus the Philadelphia 76ers!
After playing in 81 of the 82 regular season games in his rookie season, Young would be knocked down for the first time as he suffered an injury against the Miami Heat and would miss the next game. However, he came back against the San Antonio Spurs in a major way with 29 points and 13 assists in a winning effort. Young would play in 60 of the 67 games the Hawks played that season as the NBA season was abruptly shut down due to the novel coronavirus.
When Young entered the league, the “bust” label was out on him, and his Summer League performance only gave those fans and critics more ammunition. The timing of Young having a season like this much needed to quiet the people who doubted him. Even though Young was having a spectacular individual season, the team’s performance was lackluster, and overall, Atlanta saw a lot of losing from the 2019-2020 season which was the expectation entering the season regardless.