Kendrick Perkins, 14-year NBA veteran and NBA Champion with the Boston Celtics in 2008, is now known as an NBA media personality for ESPN. Perkins has fired off his fair share of spicy takes since joining the ranks of NBA media, but he let a particularly fiery one go on Wednesday night.

Perkins responded to a game between the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks in which rising  point guard Trae Young erupted for a 40-point triple-double in a losing effort at home.

After that game ended, Perkins made an interesting take on Young and what he is doing compared to Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry and his Year 2 in the league.

Now, this might immediately smack of recency bias due to the fact that Curry has only played four games in the 2019-20 season and Young is leading all Eastern Conference guards in All-Star voting at last checking. However, the numbers actually kind of back up Perkins’ bold claim.

When comparing the two players’ second seasons (Curry’s in 2010-11 and Young’s this year), it becomes clear that Young is indeed producing at a much higher level with the Hawks than Curry was in his sophomore season with the Warriors.

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Of course, Steph was not given the keys to the Warriors’ offense fully until later on is his career, but the numbers are still fairly staggering. In particular, Young has a usage rate that’s 10 percentage points higher (34.5 vs. 24.4) than Curry’s in his second season. Beyond that, the hawks playmaker is putting up far better numbers in scoring (28.9 PPG vs. 18.6 PPG) and passing (8.4 APG vs. 5.8 APG).

Though Curry was already a clear-cut masterful shooter (44.2 percent in his second season), Young is only 22 three-pointers behind him in terms of total attempted and only 31 behind him in triples made.

While Kendrick Perkins’ statement might get picked apart online, Trae Young is clearly a superstar already in his second season – something that Stephen Curry cannot claim.