Trae Young on 'Super' Secret to Luka Doncic's Mavs Success

DALLAS - We've have some fun jousting with Atlanta Hawks fans who dare to believe that Trae Young is in the same class with Dallas Mavericks phenom Luka Doncic - and no, we don't mean "same NBA Draft class.'' But Young and Doncic enjoy having fun with each other, on the same level ... with Trae firing off the latest compliment to his pal.

“He’s just a super smart player,'' Young said via the All The Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. "I think him playing overseas, playing against grown men his whole life, I mean that really prepared him to come over and make an immediate impact in the NBA at such a young age.

It's a commonly-held believe that the teenage Doncic avoided trouble adjusting to the NBA due to the fact that he’d been playing with professional players for years before coming to Dallas. Some people have turned that into a "yeah-but'' sort of criticism for his supreme play. What they leave out is his "super-smart'' be must have been to survive being a boy playing against men.

Doncic of course turned pro at the age of 16 years old, playing for Real Madrid in the EuroLeague. At 17 years old, he was crowned MVP, making him the youngest recipient of the award in EuroLeague history. He also led the team to the 2018 EuroLeague title. ... and at the same time juggled his preparation and his decision to come to the NBA.

Mavs management long before that 2018 NBA Draft put down the groundwork for Doncic to wish to end up in Dallas. Technically, Doncic was selected by the Hawks as their third-overall pick, but the Mavs had engineered a pre-Draft trade to give up Young (who was selected fifth overall) and a future first-rounder in the swap.

Young has turned out to be a fine consolation prize, though he has yet to lead the Hawks to the sort of turnaround that Dallas has accomplished with Luka. Both, though, are All-Stars as second-year players.

"It’s good to see, Young said of Doncic and his Dallas success. "He's just a super-smart player.''

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