The latest chapter of the rivalry between Luka Doncic and Trae Young has materialized.
Young and Doncic began their fourth seasons in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks, respectively, at State Farm Arena on Oct. 21. Atlanta, where Young, won the game in convincing fashion, 113-87 . The two guards are considered the best players of the 2018 NBA Draft, and were ironically traded for each other on draft night. In the final five minutes of the game, the Hawks’ Sixth Man section began to chant “Trae is better,” before chanting “Hawks won the trade” a few minutes later.
On his way to the game, Young wore a shirt that read “Atlanta Georgia Changed My Life.”
“Oh, man, they traded up to draft me,” Young said with a smile during the team’s media availability after Oct. 21’s win. “That’s pretty much it. This has been like my second home. I haven’t moved anywhere growing up, really. I’ve been in Oklahoma my whole life, so coming here to Atlanta has been amazing.”
Early in his rookie season, Young struggled shooting from the field and the Hawks’ roster was built with temporary teammates to fill Atlanta’s salary cap until general manager Travis Schlenk wanted to pull the trigger on bringing in key veterans. Meanwhile, Doncic seemingly succeeded from day one, and the vast differences in the two players drove many fans to call the draft night trade lopsided. Some fans would even go as far as labeling Young a bust compared to the generational level Doncic is projected to reach in his career.
In his second season, Young became an NBA All-Star, but the conversation still leaned in favor of Doncic because the Slovenian was already being considered a top 10 player in the NBA. After this past summer when Young shushed the New York Knicks’ crowd in Madison Square Garden and scored 48 points in the Eastern Conference Finals, the conversations of it being a lopsided trade calmed down, but the comparisons remain.
On Oct. 21, both stars struggled shooting from the floor. Young made six of his 16 field goal attempts, while Doncic made six of his 17 attempts. Doncic finished the night with 18 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and five turnovers. Young finished with 19 points, 14 assists and five turnovers.
“That was a terrible game,” Doncic said. “We couldn’t make anything. We have 81 (games) to go, so nothing to worry about.”
The leading scorer of the night was Hawks wing Cam Reddish, who scored 20 points.
Reddish was the second pick the Hawks received in the deal for Doncic.
