Atlanta Hawks: No more friendly whistle for Trae Young already?

The Atlanta Hawks are an early surprise, and Trae Young is a big reason why. However, it looks like the easy free throws he was getting are a thing of the past.

The Atlanta Hawks have been one of the most delightful surprises in the early goings of the 2020-21 season. They are 4-2, have a signature win against the Brooklyn Nets after playing them to a close loss, and they have an outside MVP candidate in Trae Young if they can keep up their stunning performance.

Young’s stats so far are absolutely fantastic. He’s averaging 28.2 points, 8.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds in just 32.1 minutes per game, and his shooting splits are a glittering .452/.361/.886.

That final number, his free throw percentage is especially remarkable because he’s gone to the line 11.7 times per game, second only to James Harden‘s 12.0. While certainly plenty of those trips to the stripe are nothing short of legitimate, he’s quickly gained a reputation of being something of a foul-hunting grifter.

In fact, perhaps he gained that reputation too quickly.

Over the course of his first four outings, he took 15.5 free throws per game. To put that in context, Wilt Chamberlain has the record for free throws per game over the course of an entire season at 17.0, set in 1961-62.

It’s a ton of free throws by any measure, and he’s drawing the vast majority of them via the “run up the back” foul, where he dribbles around the defender and then stops short, forcing the trailing defender to run into him from behind. Check out this montage of just what he’s doing:

It’s exasperated opponents, even to the point where Nets head coach Steve Nash told referees “That’s not basketball”.

Apparently, there’s nothing like a bit of gentle chastisement to get referees in line, and get in line they have since Nash’s comments earlier this week. After averaging those 15.5 free throws per game over his first four outings, he’s been to the stripe a TOTAL of eight times over his last two games, including one in the victorious rematch against the Brooklyn Nets.

Learning about Trae Young’s free throw dip from James Harden’s exploits

The best comp for Young’s foul-drawing ways is James Harden. He’s able to draw fouls from defenders virtually at will, although his bag of tricks is a whole lot deeper than Trae Young’s is at this point. It’s not unusual for Harden to have four-game stretches where he averages 15.5 free throws or more, but it is rare for him to drop from those big number games into the low single-digits.

For example, last season Harden didn’t have his first single-digit free throw game until the Houston Rockets’ 21st game, and he averaged an ungodly 14.9 free throws per game over the first 20. He didn’t drop to a four free throw game until game No. 27, although he had a five-game run where he was in single digits.

Harden’s lower-numbered games can be attributed to things like fatigue, or sharing time with Russell Westbrook. While Westbrook generally rested on the second half of back-to-backs, this particular stretch featured no back-to-backs, which may have led to a lower usage rate than average.

So there are some reasonable explanations for Harden’s occasional dips, and none of those fit with the massive reduction Young has experienced. There’s reason to believe that due to the easily-identified nature of what he’s doing to draw these free throws, NBA referees are simply done giving him those calls.

Let’s keep an eye on how things develop for Trae Young over the coming games. The road ahead may be a bit tougher for him and the Atlanta Hawks if they can’t get these easy points anymore.