The offseason is a time when players from every team – and even other countries – come together in various gyms around the country and Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young is no different.
He has taken part in various runs throughout his career and played alongside some of the game’s best. In his latest forway, he partnered with former teammate Kevin Huerter – now of the Sacramento Kings – in a game that featured a host of other current and rising stars.
Young’s team also featured second-year Oklahoma City Thunder big man Chet Holmgren and NBA veteran Austin Rivers. They faced off against a squad that included Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant, Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets, and Terry Rozier of the Charlotte Hornets.
A company co-founded by Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony – Through The Lens – hosted the run. Young, who is one of their featured athletes, finished with 19 points and 13 assists and had a couple of other passes that could have gone either way.
He connected with his former teammate, Huerter, Holmgren, and Rivers to rack up the assists and can be seen hitting multiple step-back threes and getting into the lane in the video.
Young’s team fell 100-97. But also took part in their first run which was posted to the site on August 11. He had 27 points and eight assists in that contest which saw him team up with Durant and secure the 100-85 victory.
This, again, is not a new phenomenon for Young or any player in the league. The Hawks star worked out with Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving last offseason and has even taken part in The Crawsover with teammate Dejounte Murray among other practice runs and training sessions.
Not that anyone is playing lock-down defense in any of these settings. But it’s still a great way to ramp up for the season.
And Young surely wants to hit the ground running this season.
Hawks’ start won’t necessarily determine their finish in 2023-24
The Hawks foreshadowed how their season would turn out last year, going 11-9 over their first 20 games only to finish 41-41 for the campaign. Young has spoken of how it has been disappointing to take a step back the last two seasons after their Eastern Conference Finals run in 2020-21.
They also went 11-9 to start the 2021-22 season, though they need a strong close to the opening quarter of the season to do it, going on a seven-game winning streak. Perhaps ironically, their run to the ECF began with the worst start of the last three years.
The Hawks started the season 10-10 and changed coaches in March of 2021.
There is just a one-game difference between the 2020-21 season and the last two seasons. But they got there in different ways and ended them differently as well which screams of caution to the front office – and fans – not to overreact to what they see coming out of the gates.