Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young has been busy this offseason, recently buying a stake in the Atlanta Bouncers, a Major League Pickleball team owned by Anheuser-Busch. But he is apparently not done with the surprise announcements.
“About to do something really cool that y’all will see later,” Young posted on X (formerly Twitter) on September 22. “& Then going to watch some PICKLE-BALL!! Let’s Goo!!”
It is anyone’s guess just what the announcement could be, or when Young will make it.
This offseason has seen the Hawks be mired in continued trade rumors and criticism over their approach to the offseason, namely their decision to trade John Collins to the Utah Jazz. They have explored options to fill that void but are also said to be comfortable taking the roster into the season as currently constructed.
Meanwhile, Young has been as locked in as ever, even returning to Atlanta earlier than usual to get some work in this offseason. It’s all in preparation for what Young expects to be a big season for himself and Dejounte Murray as a duo and the Hawks as a team.
“For me, I don’t like necessarily talking about it. I like going out and doing it,” Young said on the “From The Point by Trae Young” podcast on August 4. “But I know we can be special.”
The duo already etched themselves into the history books last season.
https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/1704281168961495541
But Young hears the criticisms and knows that the only way to them – and the constant trade rumors – to stop is by winning.
“Whenever you’re in this position, you never feel like it’s enough,” Young said on the episode of his podcast that aired on June 9. “You always feel like you want more – like there’s more out there. I mean obviously, I haven’t won everything. I haven’t won really anything, to be honest with you.”
Young led the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021. But they have been eliminated from the playoffs in the first round in each of the last two seasons and just five players remain from that ECF team.
“It’s tough when … you go from the Conference Finals down,” said Young.
Trae Young’s pickleball team starts Season 2 of 2023 with Atlanta tournament
As Young said, today marks his first game as part owner of the Bouncers who kick off their first tournament today. This is the fourth of six events scheduled for 2023 and runs through September 24 in Atlanta. Major League Pickleball broke the events up into two, three-event seasons. 24 teams are split into two groups, per MajorLeguePickleball.net:
“In the first season, 12 teams will compete in the MLP Premier Level and 12 will compete in the MLP Challenger Level, with rosters consisting of two men and two women. The teams will then flip levels and re-draft players for the second season.”
The first season began in January in Mesa, Arizona with stops in Daytona, Florida, and San Clemente, California. It concluded in June
Season 2 kicked off in Atlanta on September 21 and its next stop will be in Los Angeles from November 2 through November 5 before concluding in Socal from December 7 through December 12.
Fans can find all the venues for the events on the official website.