Trae Young is the ultimate floor raiser.
Well, he's at least in the conversation with the likes of Magic Johnson, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, and very few others gracing such prestigious talks.
While the Hawks continue to struggle through the muck of .500 basketball, there are certainly many who would refute this point. "Trae doesn't play winning basketball!" is far too often the war cry of those against the Atlanta agenda.
While Trae might not possess any rings, this doesn't necessarily eliminate him from elite playmaking conversations – John Stockton is the perfect example of this phenomenon. Rather, the proof lies within his former teammates that are no longer performing near the same caliber they did by his side.
Former Hawks are falling from grace without Young's help
De'Andre Hunter is having a stinker of a year in Cleveland. While teammates Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell are both solid distributors, they're nowhere near Young's caliber, and it's having an impact on Hunter's shooting prowess.
Kevin Huerter, despite being flanked by a handful of solid playmakers in Josh Giddey, Tre Jones, and Coby White, has been buried deep in Chicago's' rotation, achieving nowhere near the level he once did by Young's side.
Bogdan Bogdanovic, long-time starter/6th man for the Hawks, has been all but phased out of the Clippers' starting squad, relegated to their bench unit that's putting up categorically atrocious numbers (a large cause of their dismal 6-20 start).
Bogdanovic's teammate in Los Angeles, John Collins, is perhaps the most telling case. Despite having James Harden as his lead guard – one of the most storied lead playmakers in NBA history – he's disappeared from the fringe All-Star talks he was once a part of as a Hawk.
Time and again, Trae has proven his ability to raise the floor of his teammates, and the proof is in the pudding - ex-Hawks keep floundering while current Hawks continue to soar. While Atlanta has floundered to a sub .500 record for the first time in seven weeks, Young's impact on the offense is as readily apparent as ever.
While Young is considered an elite floor raiser, analysts have questions about his ability to be the lead player on a serious playoff team. He has scored at a league-average rate from the field just once in his career, four seasons ago. For Young to scale up his impact, he must find a way to apply the same pressure on defenses that propped up his former teammates while raising his efficency through an easier shot diet.