Revisiting Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young’s masterful sophomore season

Trae Young put on memorable performances for Hawks

In a one-point loss to the Indiana Pacers on November 29, 2019, Young had an amazing 49-point performance in 42 minutes of play. That was one of his five games that season in which he scored at least 45 points, but it might not be his best performance from that season. In a game against the Houston Rockets on January 28, 2020, Young and James Harden had a duel for the ages as they became the first opposing players in NBA History to have 40-point triple-doubles.

Young had a stat line of 42 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists and it was one of his two triple-doubles from that season. Harden, on the other hand, had 41 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists, which propelled Houston to come away with the win.

After putting up averages of 29.7 points and 9.2 assists per game in the first half of the season, Young made his first All-Star team and even got the honor of starting in the game. However, what followed immediately after might truly be his best game, not only of the season but in his career up to that point.

The first game out of the All-Star break saw Young have an incredible 50-point masterclass where he also buried 8 threes (tied for a season-high with two other games that season) in a win at home versus the Heat on February 20, 2020. The momentum he had from the first half of the season seemed to have carried over coming out of the All-Star break. In terms of game score, the game versus the Heat was his second-highest that season with a score of 37.2 that night.

The following game was his highest game score of the season with a score of 39.4 on a night of tragedy.

About a month earlier, tragedy struck as the passing of the late Kobe Bryant made head waves throughout the NBA community and around the world. To honor Bryant, Young started the game wearing the number 8, but switched back to number 11 as he dropped 45 points and 14 assists in a win versus the Washington Wizards on the night of January 26, 2020.

Young averaged 31.1 points and 11.0 assists per game in 21 games played in the second half of the season. Considering the strides and improvements he had made in his sophomore season, Young was in the running for the Most Improved Player of the Year award. He didn’t win, in fact, he placed ninth, but it was still a major improvement from his rookie season.

Brandon Ingram took home the award with 326 total points including 42 first-place votes. Young finished with 10 total points and did not receive a first-place vote. Luka Doncic and Shai-Gilgeous Alexander were also in the race from the 2018 draft class as they finished in third and sixth place respectively.

This was a big step forward in Young’s career. The next season the Hawks put all their chips on the table as Young led the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals in his first playoff run. Since this magical scoring season, he has improved as an individual player on the offensive end as he has improved his IQ and playmaking aspects of his game which has turned him into a great player.

As Young enters Year 6, maybe he can have another scoring season like the one he put on display in 2019-2020!