2. Trae Young’s superstar numbers
After a late push for the Rookie of the Year award, the NBA world was buzzing at what Trae Young had for an encore in his second season. Two games into the season and even the Stephen Curry comparisons seem a bit too low.
There are 38.5 points, 9.0 assists and 7.0 rebounds per game. Young has hoisted 23.0 shots and 10.0 3-pointers per game and is converting them at a 58.7 and 55.0 clip, respectively.
He’s controlled sprinting off screens and yet shows no fear launching bombs from beyond 30 feet. In leading the Atlanta Hawks to a 2-0 start, Young has only improved upon his record-setting time at Oklahoma while breathing excitement and direction into a previously boring and aimless franchise.
And yet, a slight caveat has to be mentioned regarding Young’s early surge. The Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic are playoff teams from a season ago, but they trotted out Reggie Jackson and D.J. Augustin to match up against Young, not exactly the best the loaded point guard position has to offer.
The next step for Young — and the Hawks as a whole — is performing at a high level against the positional contemporaries he’s looking to dethrone. We’re talking Curry, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving and plenty of others who would love nothing more than to embarrass the 21-year-old who has yet to prove much of anything so far.
It’s easy to beat up on the lower end of the talent scale. For Young to truly assert himself as a potential All-Star this season and to justify his absurd early averages, he’ll have to replicate some form of them against those who are sure to match him.