Trae Young is in the midst of an extreme season, and he added to the theme Tuesday night with 20 assists and a game-winning half-court buzzer beater to stun the Utah Jazz 124-121.
Collin Sexton had just made it 3 for Utah following a broken possession with 2.9 seconds left. The Hawks, with no timeouts, returned the ball to Young. He completed two dribbles and shot from behind half court – 49 feet, as officially reported – and only hit the net.
Indeed, Young is nothing short of dramatic. And extreme.
In addition to his 24 points, it was the third time he recorded 20 assists in a game this season (somehow, Elfrid Payton is the only other guy who has reached this mark even once).
Young is by far the league leader with more than 12 assists per game, a career high. He had 10 games with at least 15 dimes. His 934 assist points created are more than 150 more than the next closest guy (Tyrese Haliburton), according to PBP Stats.
Young excellent as a passer, but struggling as a shooter
Young isn’t just having a good passing season; he has an extraordinary one.
Unfortunately, Young’s shooting has been just as extreme this season, and not in a good way. Entering play Tuesday, he was 40% overall and 34% from 3 for the worst true shooting percentage of his career and a worse field goal percentage than Russell Westbrook. Throw in the half court and Young was 2 of 9 from 3 and 5 of 15 overall on Tuesday. He’s shot 33% or worse from 3 in 20 of his 25 games so far. And in his three 20-assist games, he shot a combined 36 percent.
If you’ve followed Young’s career, this isn’t really out of the script. He’s always been a special passer, but has never been as good a 3-point shooter as his reputation suggests. In fact, he’s only shot above league average from 3 in two of his seven seasons, and he’s a career 35 percent shooter from deep.
But the shooting woes have become more extreme this season and that has made Young’s campaign difficult to evaluate.
The passing was amazing, the shooting was horrible, and it all adds up to a 19-18 record for Atlanta, including Tuesday night’s win. That’s what the Hawks have been, more or less, for Young’s entire career. An average team that feels like it could play above that level on any given night because of these extremes that Young can go to.
If Young ever combines shooting and passing, we’ll be talking about one of the best players in the league. In the meantime, he’s just one of the most talented.
