BREAKING: Atlanta Hawks Guard Trae Young Named to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team
Well it looks like Hawks point guard is going to be an All-Star after all.
The NBA announced today that Young and Raptors forward Scottie Barnes have been named as injury replacements for 76ers center Joel Embiid and Knicks forward Julius Randle for the 2024 NBA All-Star Game.
This is going to mark the third time that Young has been named an All-Star (2020 and 2022) and it is well deserved. Young is the eighth-leading scorer in the NBA, averaging 27.3 PPG and is second in the NBA in assists, averaging 10.9. He has been one of the most prolific guards in the NBA this season and this is well deserved, though you could make an argument that he should have already been on the team.
When asked about not making the All-Star game after last Friday's win against the Phoenix Suns, here is what Young had to say:
"I got a lot of love for the fans, but I don't have much to say about it right now."
Young was then asked if he would accept an invite as an injury replacement for the All-Star Game:
"Yeah I mean... I would just because I am not just representing myself and instead of being selfish and being an A**hole... I am just being honest... I could but I know I am not just representing myself and I haven't got offered yet or who knows if they would offer me so that is how funny it is but I know if I do, I would not just be representing myself so I would go, but I have to get the invite first"
Hawks Point Guard Trae Young
Other stars around the NBA have been lobbying for Young to be in the All-Star game, including LeBron James:
n a response to a tweet about Young not being selected for the All-Star Game, James tweeted "Agreed!!! I'm not quite understanding this! Cause it can't be about Ws/Ls cause cats have definitely gotten in with wayyy nastier records in the past. He be cooking every night! Stop it! He's an All-Star for sure. Something is real fishy."
Just yesterday, Young was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week:
It was Young’s first honor of the season and seventh of his career.
In three games played this past week, Young led the Hawks to a perfect 3-0 record averaging 31.0 points on .569 FG% (33-58 FGM), .645 3FG% (20-31 3FGM), and .778 FT% (7-9 FTM), 11.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 rebound in 39.5 minutes of play. The 25-year-old became the first player since Dwyane Wade (3/6/09-3/9/09) to average at least 30.0 points and 10.0 assists on .500%/.600%/.700% shooting splits and the first player in NBA history to do so with a minimum of 20 three-pointers, per Elias Sports.
Amongst Eastern Conference players this past week, Young ranked first in APG (11.3), 3FGM (6.7), and 3FG% (.645%, min. 15 3FGA), fifth in PPG (31.0), tied fifth in FGM (11.0) and SPG (1.67).
Young will be known for making the All-Star game for his offense, but his improvement on defense should be recognized as well.
The topic about Young's defense came up after the Hawks's loss to the Pacers earlier this year and Snyder was quick to praise Young for his effort on that end:
"I am glad you asked me that, I have been saying it all year and its whatever... there is a narrative that develops about someone. He has been good off the ball, he has been good on the ball, he has competed, I can show you a long edit of the times that he has picked up full court and someone should talk about it. It's not... when you talk about Trae tonight, you will talk about what a great offensive game that he had and he did but it is one of the things that I have told him, even early in the year when his shots were not going in, he did not stop defending and that is good to see, from all of our guys. That is the mentality that we have to have and there are some things tonight that obviously defensively that we can do better and we played against a really good offensive team."
Young is never going to make an All-Defensive Team, but he has put in the effort to try and make an impact on that end.
The 2024 NBA All-Star Game will be on Sunday, Feb. 18th at 8:00 p.m. and will be televised on TNT.
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