Trae Young is in the midst of a season of extremes, and he added to the theme Tuesday night with 20 assists and a game-winning half-court buzzer-beater to upset the Utah Jazz 124-121.
Collin Sexton had just hit Utah’s game-tying 3-pointer off a broken possession with 2.9 seconds left. The Hawks, with no timeout, passed the ball to Young. He took two dribbles and shot from behind half court (49 feet, as officially indicated) and only hit the net.
In fact, Young is nothing if not dramatic. And extreme.
In addition to his 24 points, this was the third time he recorded 20 assists in a game this season (somehow, Elfrid Payton is the only other guy who has reached that mark even once).
Young leads the league in assists by a mile with more than 12 per game, a career-high. He has had 10 games with at least 15 dimes. His 934 assist points created are more than 150 more than the next closest player (Tyrese Haliburton), according to PBP Stats.
Young excels as a passer, struggles as a shooter
Young isn’t just having a good passing season; is having an extraordinary one.
Unfortunately, Young’s shooting has been equally extreme this season, and not in a good way. Entering the game on Tuesday, he was 40% overall and 34% on 3-pointers, which is the worst true shooting percentage of his career and a worse effective field goal percentage than Russell Westbrook. If the half court is ruled out, Young was 2 of 9 from 3 and 5 of 15 overall on Tuesday. He has shot 33% or worse from three in 20 of his 25 games so far. And in his three 20-assist games he has shot a combined 36%.
If you’ve been following Young’s career, this isn’t going off script. He’s always been a special passer, but he’s never been as good at shooting threes 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% shooter from deep.
But shooting problems have become more extreme this season and that has made Young’s season difficult to evaluate.
The passing has been extraordinary, the shooting has been 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 can play above that level on any given night because of these extremes that Young can go to.
If Young ever puts his shooting and passing together, we’ll be talking about one of the best players in the league. Until then, he’s just one of the most talented.
