Exclusive: Hawks' Trae Young on NBA learnings, Zaccharie Risacher's best trait

09/27/2024 09:49 AM

Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young has reason for optimism entering the 2024-25 NBA season. Although the Hawks took a step back last season when they lost their play-in tournament game against the Chicago Bulls — Atlanta had been to the playoffs in three consecutive seasons — Young has a new running mate in No. 1 overall draft pick Zaccharie Risacher.

The Hawks were able to select the 6-foot-9 French import after surprisingly winning the draft lottery despite entering with just a 3% chance of emerging with the top overall pick.

While Young admits that Risacher is “taller” than his listed height, he mentions that the 19-year-old has shown many great traits during their practices together on the Hawks.

“He’s shown a lot of a little bit of everything,” says Young in a one-on-one interview with ClutchPoints on behalf of his partnership with BodyArmor. “He shot the ball really well in our workouts so far. He’s showing his athleticism, the way he runs out and dunk. He’s shown his defensive ability, he’s even tried to guard me in a few possessions during pickup. He has a lot of upside.”

Young is going to need the 19-year-old small forward to bring the skills he’s displaying in practice to actual games as the Hawks look to make it back to the playoffs. The 26-year-old guard stresses that his key objective for the 2024-25 season is to make it back to the postseason.

Although Young missed a career-high 28 games last season, he still made his third All-Star appearance after posting 25.7 points and a career-high 10.8 assists per game. Had Young played the minimum number of games required to qualify for the assists per game crown — 58 games would have been the minimum — he would have been just 0.1 assists per game short of the assists leader, Tyrese Haliburton, who led the NBA with 10.9 dishes per game.

As Young prepares for his seventh season, he’s been through all of the ups and downs of an NBA veteran. While his play has always been strong since he entered the league in 2018, that hasn’t always been the case for his team. After making a surprise run to the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2020-21 season, Atlanta barely squeaked into the playoffs in the ensuing two seasons before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

“The NBA is a roller coaster,” says Young when asked about the biggest thing he’s learned since entering the league. “As much as it’s game by game, it’s year by year too. As much as they’ll love you one year, they’ll change and then you can get right back to it. That’s one thing I ended up learning about the NBA. You just take it day by day, never get too high or too low in any moment or day. Just try to win each and every day.”

While Young is one of the most talented offensive players in the NBA — he’s also a deadly 3-point shooter, having ranked in the top six in treys made on two different occasions — he also has his flaws like any other star in the league. The Hawks’ veteran guard has led the league in turnovers twice and has ranked in the top three on five occasions.

That’s also not mentioning Young’s weaknesses on the defensive end, where he holds the highest defensive rating (118.0) of any point guard in the league. He posted a career-high 122.0 defensive rating last year.

Young makes it clear that he’s always looking to get better — and this offseason was no different.

“Always trying to continue to get better — even at the areas that I’m good at,” says Young. “For me, the routine never really changes. I get in some runs, I play ones with my boys. We get competitive and they all help me. We always get better and I get better throughout the summer. Same routine, nothing really changes much.”

The dynamic Hawks point guard mentions how he works out five days a week during the offseason, hitting weights for an hour or an hour-and-a-half per day and then spending the same amount of time in the gym playing basketball.

“I always have to make sure I get my work in, but at the same time, take care of my body — because that’s the engine,” says Young.

As Young looks to lead the Hawks back to prominence, it obviously won’t be easy in a stacked Eastern Conference. Atlanta will also have to get through the likes of the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat in their own division alone.

Young once again doubles down on the biggest thing he’s learned and the best advice he’s received since entering the league — always stay even-keeled.

“Never get too high or too low,” stresses Young. “There’s so many games in the season. Any of my teammates that know me, they can describe me as being passionate and very competitive and they know how hard I am on myself and how much I expect out of myself. There’s some games where you may not have 30 (points) and 10 (assists) or you have a bad shooting night and a single digit score — it’s tough. Having those vets as a young player such as Vince Carter and Rajon Rondo telling me just to never get too high or too low and helping me with those types of things.”

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