The Atlanta Hawks are less than two weeks away from kicking off their 2025-26 NBA season with a home game against the Toronto Raptors. While rumors have been swirling about Trae Young's feelings on the franchise for not offering him a contract extension, the Hawks have surrounded him with far and away the best roster of his career heading into this season.
Recently, Young surprised the NBA world by dropping a song with Atlanta rappers Quavo and 2 Chainz, which released at midnight on October 11.
When Young posted a snippet of the song, titled “Where I Stay,” on X, formerly Twtiter, fans in the comment section were quick to weigh in.
“But Trae didn't even get on a verse!” complained one fan.
“If you aren’t listening to this song right now, you have no taste in music,” opined another.
One fan suggested adding another Atlanta music legend to the mix.
“We need a Jeezy remix,” they wrote.
Indeed, Young's role in the song appeared to be reduced to saying adlibs in the background while Quavo and 2 Chainz rapped, but it nevertheless seemed to be a successful music debut for the Hawks point guard.
How good can the Hawks be?
The Atlanta Hawks had one of the busiest offseason of any NBA team this year, trading for Kristaps Porzingis at the Boston Celtics' firesale and signing Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard in free agency. Atlanta also swindled the New Orleans Pelicans out of a potentially extremely valuable 2026 first round pick and were still able to draft University of Georgia product Asa Newell, who they'd already been targeting to begin with, with the pick they got in return.
All of these moves were likely a response to the current injury-weakened state of the Eastern Conference, with Celtics star Jayson Tatum and Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton both out of the lineup due to injury.
In theory, Young has the length and shooting around him that he needs to accentuate his strength and offset his weaknesses.
The Hawks and Raptors are set to kick off their respective seasons against one another on October 22 in Atlanta.
