Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young is Like Michael Jordan

How Trae is Like Mike

Confidence

Where Trae Young does resemble Michael Jordan a lot, is in his mental approach. He is oozing with confidence and that was apparent early, as we began to learn who Trae Young is.

ESPN published an article by Mark Kriegel, that quoted Trae Young as wanting to be the first player to top the NBA in points and assists. He also details the hard work, that Trae is putting in the make that goal a reality.

Trae also told Adam Wells of Bleacher Report, that his goal was to be the best player in the NBA. The interesting thing is those proclamations were all made, before Trae Young ever played a quarter of professional basketball. This eerily is similar to statements that Lakers legend Kobe Bryant made in his rookie season about wanting to be the greatest of all time.

Trae Young also confidently told Alex Kennedy of Hoopshype, that Atlanta will soon be a major free agent destination. Atlanta’s best selling point to the NBA’s great scorers, is that Trae Young will get them the basketball.

About midway through his first professional season, Trae Young appeared on “NBA Game Time”. While on set, he spoke of wanting to be among point guards who have won championships. He also stated a desire to be listed among the all time greats in the clip below:

Where many players shy away from comparisons to all time greats, Trae Young embraces them and uses them to drive him. He told Sean Highkin of Bleacher Report, that he believes comparisons to two-time NBA MVP and three-time NBA Champion Steph Curry, are fair.

Young also told Aaron Dodson of The Undefeated, that he wants to break Curry’s single game record of 13 made threes in a game. The record has since been broken by Curry’s teammate Klay Thompson and now stands at 14.

Trae clearly has lofty goals and isn’t afraid to state them. He exudes the confidence that shows he truly believes, that these otherworldly goals can be achieved. That’s a refreshing change from many athletes, who won’t state such things for fear of embarrassment, or concern with providing bulletin board material to opposing teams.

That confidence combined with his skill, so far have propelled Trae Young to thrive in clutch situations. He made game winning shots to beat the Bucks and 76ers, along with a host of other big fourth quarter shots this season. His career is just starting, but early returns are showing Trae Young to also have the Jordan clutch gene.