Trae Young is going to enter a crucial year of his NBA career next season.
Since being drafted in 2018, Trae Young has achieved a lot of individual success and even helped the Atlanta Hawks to the Conference Finals.
However, the past few years have not gone well for Young and his team. They are yet to make it past the first round since their run to the Conference Finals in 2021.
This led the front office to make some big moves in the offseason, adding players like Kristaps Porzingis and Nickeil Alexander-Walker in free agency.
Many have stated the Hawks to be one of the teams to watch out for next season, but their success depends on Young.
While he has managed to put brilliant numbers in recent years, a lot of questions have been asked about Young’s leadership and Vincent Goodwill believes next year is going to be the ultimate test of that.
The Hawks have lacked the depth to compete since Young has been on the roster, but going into next season the team will be more confident about the players they have.
Porzingis and Alexander-Walker are both names that add a lot to the team on both ends of the floor. Teaming up alongside Young will certainly make the Hawks a tough side to beat next season.
But Goodwill believes Young will also have to play some off-the-ball basketball which could lead to more avenues opening up for the team.
He said: “With Trae Young, all the numbers always looks good, right? All the assists, all the highlight plays, the nutmegs and everything else.
“We’re going to see now, not can you necessarily play winning basketball, can you lead, like that’s going to be the question.
“Can you lead? Can you make sacrifices? To make sure that it’s not just about the assists, cause sometimes people feel like, ‘Well, his assists are up so that means he sacrifices,’ it doesn’t necessarily mean that.”
Young averaged 11.6 APG last season, the most ever for his career. Goodwill believes that alone would not help the Hawks next season.
“Sometimes the assist means you have to be the person feeding everybody and everybody is not able to necessarily feed themselves and you can be the decoy that the defense has to watch out for because you’re moving without the ball and a defense has to account for you because you’re one of the greatest shooters on earth,” Goodwill added.
An argument can be made that this is the best team the Hawks have had in recent years with some quality two-way players.
Dyson Daniels and Jalen Johnson took a massive leap last year and this was an indication the Hawks were set to elevate.
| Season | Points | Assists |
| 2024-25 | 24.2 | 11.6 |
| 2023-24 | 25.7 | 10.8 |
| 2022-23 | 26.2 | 10.2 |
Young is soon going to be extension eligible and as a player who has been involved in a lot of trade talks, it will be interesting to see what deal he signs for.
Kendrick Perkins heaped praise on the moves the Hawks made in free agency and gave them a top three nod in the East.
No doubt the Hawks have brilliant players, but they will only go as far as Young takes them.
His ability to score and make plays will always be what drives the Hawks’ success. In the past few years much of the offense depended on him, but with the players they have added, Young now has a lot of support.
Luke Kennard, Porzingis and Alexander-Walker are players who can shoot the ball well, which is why some change in the Hawks’ playing style can be expected.
But there is no doubt Young will continue playing his normal game and help the Hawks make noise in the East.
