Trae Young enters action on January 30 leading the NBA with 11.1 assists per game. That is 1.3 assists more than second-place, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
And yet, Young was unable to snap his trend of alternating All-Star appearances.
He failed to make the list of Eastern Conference reserves announced by the league on Thursday before games tipped off. Young was passed over in favor of Cade Cunningham, Damian Lillard, Darius Garland, and Tyler Herro.
⭐️ The 2025 NBA All-Stars ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/ivUSKhcfuq
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) January 31, 2025
Young is averaging 22.7 points per game on 48.5% effective field goal mark. Both are the second-worst marks of his career.
He is still outscoring both Garland and Herro, though both have better eFG numbers.
Still, Young’s statistical profile seems like the lesser issue, even with the lack of efficiency on Young’s behalf. Youn sits atop the leaderboard in so many categories. But the decision was seemingly between him and Garland.
Trae Young leads the NBA in:
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) January 31, 2025
Assists per game (11.4)
Point/Assist double-doubles (27)
Trae Young leads the East in:
30-point, 10-assist games (7)
20-point, 10-assist games (19)
“To me, it really came down to volume as opposed to efficiency,” TNT’s Stan Van Gundy, a coaching veteran of over 30 years, said during the broadcast of the Cavs game on January 30.” But in some ways, not fair to slight Trae Young for his lack of efficiency, because he has to do a lot more for his team offensively than Darius Garland does for his. He can't be as selected.”
One of the biggest issues in All-Star voting in recent years has been such events are more about reputation than actual production, and that appears to be the case for Young.
He has struggled from deep over the last four games, shooting 24% from deep in that span.
Part of that is the loss of Jalen Johnson, who drew a fair share of attention from Young offensively and had proven to be a key cog to their defensive upturn. Young’s efficiency could realistically take a deeper dip given what they lose without Johnson on the floor.
The Cavaliers had the best record in the league coming into Thursday. Cunningham, Herro, and Lillard’s teams all have better records than the Hawks too.
The Hawks are 22-25 coming into their tilt against the Cavs, mired in a six-game losing streak.
It is difficult not to wonder how much different the All-Star landscape might have looked if the Hawks could have gone even .500 across that stretch. Instead, the best Young can hope for now is to be named an All-Star replacement.
That is how he made it last season. Young accepted the invite after a report from The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner in February 2023 surfaced that he would only do so if named to the initial roster.
We will see how things play out this time around.