Trae Young's hot start & 2 other potential X-factors as Hawks visit Thunder

Trae Young entered the season locked in and is off to his best scoring start in four seasons.

Tied for the league lead with a career-best 34.0 points per game (on a career-high 64.4% true shooting), the Atlanta Hawks star is also averaging a career-high 11.0 assists, a mark he said during the offseason that he wanted to hold throughout the campaign.

However, Young and the Hawks face a daunting task that threatens to disrupt their good vibes amid a 2-0 start.

That is why he, perhaps surprisingly, is among three X-factors for their next matchup.

NBA’s No. 1 scorer faces top-ranked defense as Hawks visit Thunder

The Hawks visit the Oklahoma City Thunder next. OKC boasts the NBA’s best defensive rating and several players – Alex Caruso and Luguentz Dort, among others – that they can throw at Young to keep him off balance. He is talented enough to overcome.

However, he will almost certainly need his teammates to handle a greater burden.

Young has averaged 24.7 PPG on 56.6% true shooting through 11 games versus his home state (actually, that would be Texas but the point stands) team.

As respectable as those marks are, they are also the 10th-fewest points and ninth-lowest true shooting mark of Young’s six-plus-year career versus any single team, per Basketball Reference.

The good news is that Young does indeed have help. It seems that way at least.

His usage rate is the highest that it has been since the 2021-22 season. It is still just the third-highest rate of his career.

The legend of Dyson Daniels can take a major step forward vs SGA & OKC

Dyson Daniels has been one of Young’s best supporting cast members to start the season, and it is far from a surprise. The 21-year-old, big-bodied guard arrived with a strong defensive reputation and has lived up to that billing.

Daniels leads the league in steals and deflections on both a total and per-game basis.

However, Daniels has also shown early signs that he has taken a needed step as a scorer that could help him take full advantage of his defensive prowess.

Daniels is averaging would-be career-bests with 16.5 PPG on 69.4% true shooting and a 50% clip on threes, which he is also attempting at a career-high rate with 4.0 looks per game. Add in 3.0 assists, 3.0 board, and 1.5 blocks per game, and Daniels looks like a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

Of course, it is far too early to make any declarations such as that.

Daniels will likely come back down to earth, even if only a bit. And the matchup versus the Thunder could be where it starts.

Daniels will face a legitimate MVP candidate in OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is 18th in the NBA at 25.5 points per game this season. But he averaged over 30.0 PPG for the second straight season in 2023-24, finishing second in MVP voting after being fifth in 2022-23.

If Daniels emerges from this matchup even relatively unscathed, fire up those awards rankings.

Zaccharie Risacher must find rhythm, range

The sheen of Zaccharie Risacher’s summer league and preseason showings has given way to the reality of how different the regular season is.

Through two games, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 NBA Draft has averaged 6.0 points on 38.4% true shooting and canning just 25% of his looks from downtown. It certainly puts a ding into any hopes for Rookie of the Year.

He is 12th among rookies in points.

That is somewhat understandable given his role and the plethora of scorers on the Hawks’ roster.

Risacher is also one of 12 rookies to post negative win shares so far, which would be an ominous sign if we were deeper into the campaign. But it is still so early that seeing Risacher remain aggressive despite the ball not going in just yet is still enough to be excited about.

The Thunder game would be a great time to have a breakout; or at least a “flash” game.

Risacher’s length and skill make him unique among the Hawks and, against a lengthy team like the Thunder, he could play a surprisingly key role.