Trae Young has always been known for taking a lot of shots, starting from his college days at Oklahoma where he averaged nearly 20 attempts per game.
Changes in Trae’s Game
When Trae entered the NBA, he continued this trend by averaging 18.6 shots per game over six seasons. Only a few players like Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum took more shots than him during that time. But now, his shot attempts have decreased to 16.5 per game, placing him 34th in the league. On his team, the Hawks, he’s only slightly ahead of Jalen Johnson in shot attempts while teammates like Dyson Daniels and De’Andre Hunter are also getting plenty of opportunities.
Team Dynamics and Player Growth
Young’s usage percentage (USG%) has also dropped significantly to 26.2%, which is much lower than when he was among the top players in this category with numbers similar to James Harden’s peak years. This change has helped Atlanta start the season with a decent record and allowed Jalen Johnson to shine as an emerging star.
During a recent victory against Milwaukee, even though Young struggled with his shootingโmaking just 6 out of 19 shots and missing all nine three-point attemptsโthe team still won thanks to Johnson’s impressive performance with 23 points and strong stats across the board.
Jalen Johnson tonight:
23 PTS
12 REB
5 AST
2 STLTop two in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks for the Hawks this season.
— StatMuse (@statmuse)
Fans think it’s great that Young is sharing the ball more now.
Evolving Strategy for Success
In crucial moments of games now, Young often lets Johnson take charge of running plays instead of trying to do everything himself. This is quite different from how things used to be when Young was always leading in tight situations.
Perhaps he’s realized that focusing too much on scoring wasn’t helping the team succeed after their unexpected run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021. Since then, they didn’t perform well for three seasons straight.
With this new approach where everyone gets involved and Young playing smarter basketball, Atlanta seems more threatening than ever before!
