Was Trae Young Ranked Too Low in the Latest Point Guard Rankings For the 2024-2025 Season?

Young is one of the top offensive players in the entire NBA

Apr 10, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) points to a teammate against the Charlotte Hornets during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports / Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Over the past couple of years, Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young has gone from one of the ascending stars in the league to a place where he is perpetually underrated for how good of a player he is. Young is an offense just by himself and makes the rest of his teammates around him better when on that end of the floor. Poor roster construction from the front office and ownership has been detrimental to Young in the past, but that appears to be changing this year after the moves the Hawks have made.

After taking the Hawks to the conference finals in 2021, it seemed that Young was on his way to being one of the top three point guards in the league on an annual basis and someone who would make All-NBA appearances. Depending on who you ask though, that has not been the case and Young has become a player who different people have varying opinions. It has actually gotten to the point where I would say Young is one of the most underrated players in the NBA and the latest point guard rankings from Hoopshype are evidence of that. In a countdown of the top 30-point guards for the 2024-2025 season, Young ranked 10th, behind Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton, Steph Curry, Tyrese Maxey, Ja Morant, Damian Lillard, and De'Aaron Fox.

I think having some of those guys above Young is silly. All of these are great players and the talent at point guard is arguably the deepest its ever been, but to have someone that averages nearly 30 PPG and double-digit assist numbers behind Maxey, Morant, and Fox is something that I disagree with.

Comparing Young and Morant, Young averages more PPG, and APG, shoots better from three and from the free-throw line, and beats him in advanced metrics such as VORP (17.5 vs 10.1) and BPM (3.0 vs 2.8). Young is also a three-time all-star compared to Morant's two selections and they both have the same number of All-NBA selections. If you want to point to Young being poor on defense, that is fine, but Morant is not a good defender either.

Maxey is an ascending player, but there is no evidence that he is better than Young at this point in their careers. Young beats him in every category outside of field goal percentage and three-point percentage. Maxey might be more efficient in terms of scoring, but Young is the superior passer and playmaker. He also does not get to play with a teammate at the level of Embiid.

I don't think that anyone would question that Lillard is a better all-time player than Young, but is he better than him right now? After last season, that is a hard case to make.

Young is by no means a perfect player, but I think people's opinion of him has soured too soon and people are criminally underrating him. He has new additions like Dyson Daniels and Zaccharie Risacher that should help the team and fit his style of play better. Same for Jalen Johnson, who is an ascending star. Young could have an All-NBA level season this year and it should not surprise anyone.