You may have heard of Trae Young by now. He dropped 26 points and an NCAA-record 22 assists a few nights ago in 29 minutes aganist Northwestern State. Tonight, he might actually be well on his way to putting up an even more impressive statline.
Trae Young made basketball look effortless again
How is he this good already?
Kelly Ross-USA TODAY Sports
In just one half of play against Northwestern, Young has already put up 25 points and 10 assists. There’s nothing the Wildcats have been able to throw at him to stop him. It’s clear why he’s climbing his way up draft boards.
He’s throwing up moon bombs and draining them against solid contests.
He’s effortlessly throwing silly lobs like this one.
He’s made six of eight threes in the half. And they aren’t from just one area of the floor — they’re coming from every direction.
And he’s easily dribbling into pull-ups with the clock winding down.
We can easily see where the Stephen Curry comparisons are coming from. Young is impressive with lots of skill at just 19 years old.
Young finished the game with 31 points and 12 assists in the Sooners’ 104-78 win after his hot first half. He didn’t play much in the second half because the Sooners were ahead by so much.
It’s a short season, sure. But this kid looks like the real deal.
How good can Young actually be?
The simple answer is really good. That’s easy to say with him averaging 28.5 points per game and 10.2 assists per game. We’ve seen this type of player bust in the NBA before — think Jimmer Fredette. He’s a high volume, high usage player who takes and makes a lot of threes.
But this is different. The thing about Young is this: Sure, it feels like he plays like you do on NBA 2k’s Pro-Am with your friends, but the Sooners run some NBA action to get him solid looks. Here he is taking a drag screen as he brings the ball up to create space for a deep three.
It’s not a complex action, but with his range it’s dangerous. That’s something he’ll be asked to do at the NBA level for years to come.
The biggest flaw other players with his skill set have faced on the next level is that they’re unable to truly create shots for themselves. Young doesn’t have that issue — his handle is tight. And he has an NBA-ready floater.
He finished that through contact, too.
He’s not the other-worldly athlete a player like Marvin Bagley III or DeAndre Ayton are, but he’s certainly one of the most skilled players in the country at this point. NBA teams value that — especially when that skill comes with range like Young has.
How high can he be drafted?
That remains to be seen. If he keeps playing this way? He’ll certainly be looked at as a lottery pick at the very least. At best? Maybe he goes one. But he’s still got plenty of competition for that top spot with Marvin Bagley III, Michael Porter Jr., Ayton and Luka Doncic.
But the Curry comparisons are legitimate, and no team wants to miss out on the second coming of the player that turned the game inside out. So the sky is the limit for Young. Let’s enjoy watching him grow.
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