Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young has some encouraging words for incoming New York Knicks rookie RJ Barrett, expressing his confidence that the third overall pick of the 2019 draft will do just fine in the Big Apple.

Young believes that Barrett can handle the attention and pressure of being in a big-market team like the Knicks, emphasizing that the Duke product has handled a lot of attention since he was young.

“I mean, RJ's handled a lot of attention, from high school to now, great,” Young said during his  NBPA/Five-Star Camp at Basketball City, per Ian Begley of SNY.TV.

“The way he's performed, the way he's put in work. For me, if I could give him any advice it's just to remain who he is and focus on the important things: that's playing basketball, that's getting better every day. And enjoy everything else as far as letting everything else fall behind what you're here for, which is playing basketball. If he's playing well, if he's working out, if he's doing (those) things, everything else is going to take care of itself. It's going to be a lot easier to handle. But when everything starts to drift off and other things start to come between basketball (being) the most important thing, then he'll struggle. But with his circle and his godfather being Steve Nash and the people in his ear, I don't think he's going to have any hard times out here.”

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Young is no stranger to pressure himself. As he was preparing to be drafted, pundits were already comparing him to Stephen Curry because of his shot-making ability and excellent court vision. Young dealt with the pressure well in Atlanta, rebounding from a slow start to finish second in Rookie of the Year voting.

As Young mentioned, Barrett is used to the attention. Playing for Duke on the same team with Zion Williamson meant never-ending media coverage. It might take time, but Barrett should adjust to the bright lights of Madison Square Garden and settle into the rigors of playing in the NBA eventually.