There's no mistaking the fact that Trae Young is one of the most talented lead guards in the NBA today. Young's craftiness with the ball in his hands as seen in his buttery floater touch and annoying penchant for drawing fouls allows him to excel, and his passing vision only serves to accentuate his lethal scoring ability. However, as the Atlanta Hawks can attest to, Young isn't exactly a positive on the defensive end.

Young, due to his lack of size (he's listed at 6-1, 164 lb.), struggles to defend at the point of attack, making it necessary for the Hawks to hide him on that end of the floor. And he doesn't have the best defensive instincts to begin with, making him a huge target for the opposition, putting him in defensive action on almost every possession.

For all of the talk as to why Trae Young didn't make the Team USA team that will be competing for the 2023 FIBA World Cup crown, his issues on the less glamorous end of the court may have been the deciding factor that kept him off the roster.

“At one point, a question was presented to Trae Young something along the lines of ‘Are you ever going to go over a bleeping screen?'” Tim MacMahon of ESPN said on The Hoop Collective Podcast.

While this reasoning won't exactly put the other rumors for Young's exclusion (including Gilbert Arenas' Nike-Adidas conspiracy theory) to rest, this line of thinking certainly makes sense in the grand scheme of things. Given how talented the rest of the Team USA squad is already, the Hawks star's skillset may not exactly be needed by the team, especially when it comes at the cost of defensive surety.

Team USA is loaded at the guard position anyway with the likes of Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton, and Austin Reaves all capable of running the offense in an unselfish manner while not being dreadful on defense. Young's foul-baiting ways won't translate seamlessly to the international game as well, as FIBA officiating tends to be more discerning of contact embellishment.

Whatever the case may be, one thing is clear: Trae Young must improve his defensive capabilities for him to reach the best version of himself.