Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young may have been snubbed in the 2020-21 All-Star festivities, but he is proving in the playoffs that it was a huge, huge mistake.
Young is undoubtedly having one of the best moments of his young career, having already led the Hawks to the second round of the playoffs–something that his peer Luka Doncic hasn't done yet with the Dallas Mavericks.
In fact on Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers, Ice Trae was phenomenal once again and banked 35 points and 10 assists in a 128-124 victory over the top-seeded team. Joel Embiid even played and Philly was still no match to the hot-shooting guard and his Atlanta squad.
With his performance, though, Young joined the likes of Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with at least 133 points in the first four playoff road games of their career (via Basketball Reference).
Now that is some elite company! Trae Young certainly deserves to be mentioned in the same breath, especially with the way he is playing right now. While credit should be given to the rest of the Hawks as well, it is safe to say it won't function the same without Young at its core.
Against the New York Knicks in the first round, Young embraced being the villain and backed the talk with several sensational plays. In fact, in the three road games against the ‘Bockers, he scored 30-plus points in each. He continued that trend against the Sixers as he slowly becomes a legitimate big-time player in the NBA.
With the way he is playing, the Sixers should be scared they have ‘homecourt advantage”–err disadvantage in this regard.