Atlanta Hawks Star Trae Young Reiterates His Belief That He Can Win A Championship in Atlanta After Play-In Loss

The Hawks point guard spoke on the 2024-25 season, as well as his future, in his exit interview today.

Apr 18, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) reacts with injured player Kobe Bufkin after being defeated by the Miami Heat in overtime at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

After the Hawks lost to the Heat in the play-in tournament, ending a 2024-25 season filled with injuries, the focus has once again turned to the future of Trae Young.

From an objective point of view, Young had another strong season for the Hawks. He played almost every game with right Achilles tendinitis. Amidst Jalen Johnson being ruled out for the season halfway through the year, he was a stabilizing force in the lineup and actually led the NBA in assists. Young's efficiency declined from last season, but he still finished the year averaging 24.2 points and 11.6 assists on 41.1/34/87.5% shooting splits.

Young got off to a slow start against the Heat yesterday. Although he finished the first half with 12 points, he shot 18% from the field and 25% from three. He has also struggled this season against the Heat, shooting 35% from the field and 26% from deep while averaging a double-double of 17 points and 12 assists in those four games. Even though Young finished the game with 29 points and 11 assists, they couldn't get much going outside of Young and center Onyeka Okongwu offensively.

After the loss yesterday, Young spoke to the media today in his exit interview and he shared a few thoughts on both the team and his future.

How do you feel about the loss several hours removed from the emotions of last night?

"I mean, obviously, it's still not easy. It's still fresh. It's going to be a minute and now we're in the offseason and the focus is on getting better."

What do you see the team honing in on to get better?

"You gotta get better in all areas in your game. Handle, shots, everything. You just get more comfortable in your game and then be ready when you come back in the seaosn and be ready for the jump. You use the offseason to get better and then the season is where you show what you worked on."

How do you find the balance between expectations for yourself and for your team and your joy and the love you have for the game?

"It's something I'm constantly working at every day, constantly trying to be good at. We all got different goals and we all have certain goals that we want to achieve and accomplish. But we play a team sport and we need each other with anything we accomplish. So, with good things, it all takes time. This is something else that is going to take time."

How do you prevent yourself from becoming impatient when it's taking so long to see the results?

"I think it's okay to get upset by it. I don't think it's okay to be okay with losing. I'm upset about it and I'm not happy that I'm here talking to y'all at the end of the season right now - I wish it was later. But you gotta do something about it to change it and for me, I just want to win. That's all it is. So you got to do whatever you need to do to change it. That's what it is."

Do you still think you can win here?

"Yeah, of course. We're one of the 30 NBA teams and I feel like you can win here. I've won before here - I haven't won a championship, but I've achieved a lot of things here and I know what it takes. I definitely feel like I can win."

How have you, along with the rest of the young core, gotten on the same page to work on what it is that you need to do in order to take that next step?

"We'll talk later on. It's still fresh and I feel like now it's good to get away from basketball a little bit, refresh your mind. I always do right after the season and before I get back to training. So when I talk to them, that's what I'm going to tell them. Just get a little refresh, go back to Paris or Australia and enjoy some time with their family and have some fun. And then whenever they want to get back to work, they get back to working. And now, Zacch knows what to prepare for going into his second year and things like that, so it will be a better and exciting second year for him. Dyson as well, he's gotten some more experience this year and he knows what to expect and it's going to be an exciting next year for everybody."

What is going to take to win and get to a championship level?

"Takes a lot. You're going to need some luck and health and you gotta have your team ready from Day 1. And I think we were there this year. We had moments even with young guys. I think we just dealt with a lot of injuries this year and that's not an excuse, but that's kind of what we had to deal with. A lot of it happened in our frontcourt, so we were very small and playing against certain teams that had a lot of size and length and we kind of struggled. I think just having guys back healthy and being ready from the jump is going to be a big part of our success."

How do you use this year to motivate you to go even further next year to achieve more?

"Anytime you lose, anytime you're not where you feel you should be, it should always motivate you. For me, not being in the playoffs - I know a lot of guys feel like we should have been in the playoffs no matter what we've been through - that's motivation right there. That's why I'm not going to stop watching games because this is part of it. You have to go through these. I live in OKC and LA, so there are some teams that are playing in those places that I live at, so I'm going to watch. Next year, hopefully we play in Atlanta and they are watching me, so that's my motivation."

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