Trae Young is expected to suit up for the Atlanta Hawks on Monday against the Oklahoma City Thunder. This is after the All-Star point guard opted not to show up to Friday's matchup against the Denver Nuggets following a reported verbal altercation with head coach Nate McMillan earlier in the day.
Young has already broken his silence regarding the incident as the Hawks star tried his best to play down the incident. Trae refused to provide any details with regard to what he has deemed as a “private matter,” saying that wherever transpired will remain behind closed doors.
McMillan has now also spoken out about the issue, and he too has decided to keep mum with regard to the details of his incident with Young:
“A situation happened that is private. It's no different than any other day for me and our group, and a story was leaked about that situation,” McMillan said (h/t Sam Quinn of CBS). “Those are things that we don't normally talk about or address. Things happen with our players on the bus, on the plane, in hotels. We're together a lot. We're family. Things are gonna happen during the course of a season. But I addressed my team about that. I've talked with Trae about that. We're moving forward.”
The Hawks coach, however, could not help but clap back on a specific element of reports wherein he allegedly gave Trae Young an ultimatum to either come off the bench (Young is currently dealing with a shoulder injury) or not show up for the game at all. McMillan vehemently denied the notion that he asked Trae to stay home:
“The one thing that I do want to respond: There was something said about me telling Trae to not show up for a game. I will never ever, and have never, ever told a player not to show up for a game. That's just false,” McMillan said.
Both Young and McMillan have played down the incident as both men attempted to make it seem like a normal occurrence within the squad. However, the fact that Trae Young opted not to come to a game still makes this a pretty big deal.
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