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Trae Young Has Created Third-Most Points This Season
For months now, I've been leading the charge that Trae Young is a viable candidate for the 2022 NBA MVP Award. That might have sounded silly when the Atlanta Hawks were below .500 and outside of the playoff picture. Well, now the Hawks are back in the playoff picture, and there are new metrics that help support my case.
Zach Kram of The Ringer is not only an excellent hoops writer but a numbers guru. In his most recent article, he explored the MVP question through the lens of 'Who gets the most buckets?'
We already know that Young is near the top of the league with 27 points and 9 assists per game. But the statistics used by Kram elevate the Hawks point guard to the very top of the league. Below is an excerpt of his methodology.
"This points created statistic involves three parts. First is simplest: a player’s own points. Second is the points he creates via assist, which offers an improvement over the traditional assist statistic because assists on 3-pointers are more valuable than assists on 2-pointers. And third is the points he creates via screen assist—defined by NBA Advanced Stats as when “an offensive player or team sets a screen for a teammate that directly leads to a made field goal by that teammate”—via the same logic."
Leading the NBA in all points created is Nikola Jokic (58.0). Second, is Giannis Antetokounmpo (54.9). The third is Trae Young (53.9). You can click on the article here for the full breakdown. Spoiler alert, there aren't any point guards even close to Young.
It's a given that Young would be named an All-Star starter. It's safe to say that he will earn his first All-NBA team following this season. But now more than ever, you need to start including 'Ice Trae' in your MVP discussions. In the words of Poet Nobel Laurette Kendrick Perkins, "Carry on."
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