Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young’s unnoticed production in February

Despite the losing record from the Atlanta Hawks this season, Trae Young has been the best player on the team and one of the top point guards in the NBA.

The second-year guard and rising star for the Atlanta Hawks, Trae Young, has had the best year of his young career this season. But due to the crazy month of February that Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum produced right before the NBA hiatus, the elite level of production from Young has almost unfortunately gone unnoticed. Let’s take a look at how well Young played during the month of February.

Although the Hawks have only won 20 games this season, Young has still been able to put on an incredible show this year. He is averaging 29.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 9.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per game this season. Young is shooting 44 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range. He’s on the cusp of a double-double average this season while leading the Hawks in points, assists, and steals per game.

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Young showed glimpses of being a confident scorer during his rookie season last year, but I don’t think anyone expected him to elevate to the elite caliber level that he has in just one year’s difference. In just one season, Young has increased his scoring production by an impressive 10.5 points per game. He is currently ranked in the top-four for points per game (fourth) and assists per game (second).

All season Young showed the NBA world exactly the type of player that he can be. We saw him skillfully drive to the hoop and score on anyone, as well as watching him confidently shoot for range on his 3-point shots from the half-court logos as if he was emulating Stephen Curry. What has been most noteworthy of Young this season is the speed at which he can get a shot off, especially from long range.

In the month of February alone, Young played in 11 games and averaged 31.3 points, and 10.1 assists per game while shooting 42 percent from the field and connecting on 34 percent of his 3-point shot attempts. It’s also worth mentioning that he impressively made 92.3 percent of his free throw attempts and he made the All-Star team for the first time in his short career this season.

Throughout Young’s February journey, he scored over 20 points in all but one game, which included 50 points against the Miami Heat, 48 points over the New York Knicks, and 38 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He finished February scoring at least 22 points in six games, three games scoring over 34 points, and one game scoring 48 and 50 points each in the month. It’s worth noting that Young also had over 10 assists in eight out of the 11 games he played in February.

It’s fair to say that the losing record the Atlanta Hawks own this season is what has drawn the attention away from Young. It’s also fair to say that Young poised to be a true premier NBA point guard for a long time. If the Hawks can eventually start to put all the pieces together as a team, don’t be surprised when Trae Young carries the Atlanta Hawks through a playoff series sometime down the road.