Hawks: Forget your narrative, the NBA’s new rules don’t seem to be bothering Trae Young

A lot of casual NBA fans would say that Trae Young relied on fouls to score a healthy share of his 29.6 points per game in 2019-2020, and the same ignorant comments were made when he followed it up with 25.3 points per game in 2020-2021 while leading the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals. While Trae obviously took advantage of the rules to counter his smaller size, the idea that he “needs” to draw shooting fouls to score is asinine. He’s backing that up so far in 2021-2022:

.@TheTraeYoung becomes the fastest player in franchise history to reach the 5,000-point milestone ❄️ pic.twitter.com/phCyB1eWdP

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) October 28, 2021

https://twitter.com/HawksFanTV/status/1453543617780387844?s=20

Trae Young is averaging 25 PPG & 10 APG through 3 games this season.

Since entering the NBA in 2018, he has 47 games with 25 & 10, tied for most in the NBA during that span.

Young & the Hawks play the Pelicans in the 1st game of Wednesday's NBA doubleheader on ESPN at 7:30 ET. pic.twitter.com/wQROiKc1K1

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 27, 2021

I asked Trae Young about not receiving many foul calls when he drives to the rim so far this season.

Here's what he had to say: pic.twitter.com/a7CliW6JwT

— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) October 28, 2021

The Hawks are 3-1, and Trae has obviously been a big part of that. He’s averaging 26.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 9.3 assists, and is shooting 100% from the charity stripe. Young is only averaging 4.8 free throws per game, compared to 8.7 in 2020-2021 and 9.3 in 2019-2020 — but the production hasn’t changed. Trae has always made adjustments with his game, ever since he got to the NBA. As it stands, he hasn’t even been that hot from three, only shooting 31.8% through four games. When those start falling, we’re going to be talking about an early season MVP candidate.

Maybe ditch the ignorant narrative while you still have time — Trae Young is a superstar. You can keep making excuses if you want, but your apology needs to be as loud as your disrespect.