As an Atlanta native, I've had the chance to see Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young quite a bit both in person and on TV. I also had the chance to see Memphis Grizzlies rookie phenom, Ja Morant, back in his college days when Murray State came and played (and nearly beat) my Auburn Tigers.

Regardless, there's no doubt that both Young and Morant are some of the brightest young stars the league has seen in a bit. While the two won't be pitted up against each other like Young and Doncic or Zion and Morant, their positions as future elite point guards will certainly link the two throughout their careers.

While both are seemingly destined for greatness, who will have the better career? Obviously, this is just my humble opinion and shouldn't be taken as fact… because no one can predict the future.

From a purely statistical standpoint, the obvious answer is Trae Young. It's only his second season in the league and the former top-five pick is already putting up (at the time of this writing) 29.4 points, 9.2 assists and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 43.6 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from deep.

Young showed his potential as a scorer in playmaker in his one year at Oklahoma, but the fact that he's top five in the league in both at the age of 21 is simply remarkable.

However, there are two things that are currently holding and very well might hold Young back from true greatness in the future. For starter's Young is a liability on defense. Regardless of how exciting of a player he is on the offensive side of the ball, when it comes to defense, Young will likely never be more than average.

Among the 497 eligible players, the Hawks star is 496th (ahead of Bradley Beal) in ESPN's real defensive plus-minus while Atlanta as a team currently second to last in the league in points allowed per game.

Speaking of the Hawks as a team — it's not going great. The Hawks are currently 19-46 on the season and sit just one game ahead of being last place in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks certainly have interesting building blocks for the future. John Collins and Kevin Huerter are improving day by day and rookies De'Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish are filled with potential.

However, just because you have some good young players, doesn't mean success is on the way — plenty of teams will tell you that. I'm not too convinced that Atlanta will ever find championship-level success with Young at the helm and that lack of success will hurt his legacy in the future.

Now, on to Ja Morant. The No. 2 pick of the recent NBA draft, Morant has already been able to play at an All-Star level while leading a Grizzlies team that won 55 games in the last two seasons combined to a likely playoff berth in 2020.

Morant is averaging 17.6 points, 7.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game while shooting an efficient 49.2 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from deep.

And while the 20-year old isn't putting up the same gaudy numbers as Trae Young does, you have to remember that he is playing less than 30 minutes per game this season, and with a better supporting cast, doesn't have to be the sole option on offense.

There's no doubt Ja Morant will one day put up numbers in the range of 25 points, 9 rebounds and 5 rebounds and that is more than enough to be considered an all-time great if he keeps with his incredible efficiency.

The former Murray State product is by no means an elite defender as of now, but his defensive potential is higher than Young's. A burgeoning Memphis defense led by Jaren Jackson Jr., Jonas Valanciunas and Brandon Clarke should also help boost Morant's reputation on the defensive side of the ball.

All in all, if fast forwarding 15 years and guessing who will be regarded as the better player, the nod goes to Morant. It's probably a pretty controversial opinion, but there's nothing wrong with sticking to your gut. Again, Trae Young will put up some absolutely insane statistical numbers; though there's reason to not be confident in the Hawks organization to get anywhere past the second round of the playoffs.

Morant has already built a bit of a reputation as a winner and if Memphis keeps going down the same track, they could be contenders a few seasons down the road.