The Hawks have a Trae Young problem and there is only 1 solution

The Atlanta Hawks are 7-10 on the season and a valid question can be asked about one of the key factors.

Hawks star Trae Young leads the league with 11.7 assists per game. That is a career-high and would fulfill a goal the three-time All-Star set for himself before the season began. But the Hawks need more from him in a key way.

So far, he has not delivered. So what should the Hawks do?

Hawks face 1 solution for Trae Young problem

Young is shooting 32.8% from beyond the arc this year, which would be the second-lowest mark of his career. 

Young is 2-for-16 from long distance over the last three games. The Hawks, meanwhile, are coming off back-to-back losses and are 1-3 in their last four outings. Young is far from the only culprit behind the current trend for the team.

But as the best player, he is undoubtedly a key to getting it back on track.

The Hawks rank 19th in the three-point attempts this season. That is a significant step back from their seventh-place ranking in 2023-24.

Unfortunately, their efficiency has not risen as a result of more judicious shot selection. Instead, the Hawks followed up their 17th-place efficiency ranking in 2023-24 with a 20th-place mark entering play on November 23.

Key shooters Bogdan Bogdanovic and De’Andre Hunter have combined to play 10 games.

Hunter returned to action with a bang but has cooled off in the last two games. Bogdanovic has struggled. Dyson Daniels (30.8%) and Jalen Johnson (33.8%) must also step up.

Without a doubt, the Hawks need Young to connect on a greater percentage of his deep looks if they want to remain in contention for the postseason. There is really only one solution for them amid his current slump.

Wait.

The simple overreaction would be to trade Young. But the more rational mind would check back and see the guard has been prone to slow starts in his career. Young’s 34.1% career mark in November is his fourth-lowest in any month, including an eight-game sample in May.

The good news is that Young has shot 36.5% from downtown from December through March, with a 35.7% clip in January bringing down the overall positive swing that he sees.

It is not all good news on the horizon, though.

Trae Young's pattern an ominous sign for Hawks

Young’s efficiency from deep typically tails off in April, i.e. the postseason. He has also alternated efficient and inefficient seasons as a three-point shooter for his entire career and 2024-25 just happens to be a dip year.

That may seem arbitrary. But after six full seasons, having the seventh one start as it has seems pretty telling.

Again, that only means Young and the Hawks need to adjust, not exactly change like a trade.

Whether those adjustments are made is a different story. Some of them involve Young’s teammates hitting their deep looks at a greater clip. But Young must also be more discerning when he has the ball.

He is also tied for the league lead with 4.6 turnovers per game. Giving the ball away on a shot that is not (yet) falling is far from ideal.