Trae Young’s Performance Against The Nuggets, Which Included A Nutmeg And Bench Staredown, Was A Thing Of Beauty

trae young vs nuggets

Getty Image / AAron Ontiveroz


Trae Young gets overlooked more often than not due to the fact that he plays for a not so great Atlanta Hawks team, but his performance against the Nuggets in Denver on Tuesday night should turn everyone’s attention to the second-year man out of Oklahoma.

Young put together one of the most impressive performances we’ve seen thus season going 13-for-21 from the field, including 8-for-13 from three-point land en route to a 42 point, 11 assists performance in a 125-121 Hawks win over the Nuggets.

Tuesday night’s show marked the third straight game Young has gone for 30 or more points while he’s now averaging 28 points per game on the year. He became the youngest player in NBA history to record three straight 30 and 10 games with his outburst on Tuesday night.

The man was absolutely unconscious in Denver. From his handles to the passes to pulling up from Steph Curry range, he was clearly clicking at a different level.

While there were plenty of plays to pick out during his performance, something special happened in the third quarter. Young decided to nutmeg Will Barton, pull up with a fadeaway, drain it and then stare down the Nuggets bench.

I mean, this is just disgusting.

Barton had no idea what just happened and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it, either.

The Nuggets went on to tie the game 101-101 with just over eight minutes left in the game, but Young took over having a hand in 17 of the Hawk’s final 24 points on the way to Atlanta’s win.

Plenty of NBA fans criticized the Hawks for trading the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft to Dallas, which took Luka Doncic, for the No. 5 picks and Young clearly hasn’t forgotten about the haters.