Trae Young dropped 34 points and 10 assists to help the Atlanta Hawks earn their fourth straight win. The superstar point guard nailed a season-high seven 3-pointers in Atlanta’s 136-107 beatdown of the Toronto Raptors.
Young’s historic 12.1 assists per game have fueled the Hawks’ best ball movement of the Ice Trae era. As a team, they have dished out the third-most assists per game with 29.8 and the second-most total assists with 984.
Young has already entered rarefied air as a playmaker, but he is on the heels of making more history with one particular stat. In 438 career games, Atlanta’s franchise player now has 129 outings with at least 25 points and 10 assists.
NBA legend Magic Johnson has the fifth-most 25-10 games with points and assists of all time. Johnson achieved the stat line 137 times, but he played more than twice as many games as Young with 906 career appearances.
Young is just eight 25-10 games away from ranking top five all-time in the category. His future Hall-of-Fame status should never be doubted, and this 25-10 stat proves just that. Hawks fans are witnessing a generational passer at the peak of his powers.
Young is also leading his team with the ultimate swagger right now. The red-hot Hawks have won 11 of their last 15 contests, and Young’s contagious confidence has proven key to Atlanta’s success.
Trae turned around before it went in 😮💨🥶 pic.twitter.com/FbQ7HGMfSv
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) December 30, 2024
Trae Young makes a case for the best passer of the 2020s
Only five other players in NBA history have averaged 12.1 assists or greater in a single season. Young is a playmaking wizard, and he has an obvious case for the best passer of the decade.
Since the 2019-20 campaign, Young has led the league with 10.1 assists per game. He has quite literally averaged a double-double with points and assists since his sophomore season, and he leads second-ranked Nikola Jokic in total assists over that span by more than 200 dimes. Young has accumulated 3,590 assists this decade.
Despite a career-low field goal percentage, Young has never looked more mature as a leader for the Hawks. His growth has been obvious, and Atlanta’s team ball movement has reflected that growth. Everybody is eating for the Hawks with three players averaging at least 19.9 points this season. Jalen Johnson is one standout performance away from making Atlanta one of two teams in the league with three 20-point scorers.
Since 1990, only four teams have had three players averaging 20 or more points. All of those were Golden State Warriors teams. With Johnson and De’Andre Hunter hovering around 20-point averages, the Hawks have a chance to make history.
Ahead of Milwaukee’s NBA Cup win over the Hawks on December 14, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers noted Young’s evolution as a leader.
"He's earned the trust of his players," Rivers said, per ESPN. "This team likes playing with him. That's obvious. I couldn't say that in the past, but now they love playing with him."
Young’s improvement on the defensive end has also sent a strong message to his teammates. The 26-year-old floor general wants to win a title more than anything, and he knows a window is opening for the Hawks to take flight.
Everybody eats in Atlanta, but Young is the one setting the table. The future Hall-of-Famer has never looked more ready to lead the Hawks.