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On Thursday night, the reserves for the 2025 NBA All-Star Game rosters were announced. With there being only 12 roster spots for each conference, someone deserving of a spot on the roster was bound to be snubbed. And one such player that drew the short end of the stick was Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young, who continues to alternate years in which he receives and doesn't receive an All-Star nod.
Young, at this point, appears to be jaded already by the way he's being treated in All-Star conversations. All the Hawks star could do was express his disappointment on his official account on X (formerly Twitter) and in a lighthearted manner, no less.
“& it’s no longer getting “snubbed” it’s getting “Traed” at this point😂 Sorry to my fans.. it’ll change eventually! All right, talk soon!” Young wrote.
There are of course some justifications for Young's exclusion from the All-Star team. The Hawks star is in the middle of the worst scoring season of his career since his rookie year, with his volume and efficiency going down to this point of the 2024-25 season. But Young is also carrying such a heavy offensive burden, with the majority of the team's shot-creation burden falling on him and him alone.
And with the Hawks having a worse record (at the moment) than the Cleveland Cavaliers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Miami Heat, the team performance factor also dragged Young below Darius Garland, Damian Lillard, and Tyler Herro. On the other hand, Cade Cunningham was a shoo-in for the All-Star team considering how well he played last season, and Young has no argument to make it over the burgeoning Detroit Pistons star.
But even with Young having to carry the Hawks offense on his back, he is still averaging 22.7 points and a league-leading 11.4 assists per game, showing his excellence as one of, if not the league's outright best playmaker — making him one of the biggest All-Star snubs in the league.
Trae Young and the Hawks are falling on hard times in recent days
The Hawks have been going all-in on the roster-building blueprint of surrounding Trae Young with plenty of athletic players who can cover for his deficiencies on defense, all while giving Young the responsibility of lifting the team's offense. But the Hawks' biggest rising star, Jalen Johnson, was ruled out for the rest of the season with a serious shoulder injury.
Atlanta has now lost six games in a row, and they have to be careful of falling any further down the standings; the Hawks owe their 2025 first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs, so they must do whatever it takes to climb back to playoff contention.
