Trae Young is one of the more polarizing players currently in the NBA. In the 2021 postseason, he helped guide his Atlanta Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals. They fought valiantly but fell to the eventual champion Milwaukee Bucks in six games.
In the three ensuing seasons, the Hawks and Young have yet to win a playoff series. Last season, Atlanta went 36-46 and couldn’t advance past the Play-In Tournament. The team acquired Dejounte Murray in the 2022 offseason. The move was expected to give Atlanta a dynamic backcourt. Young and Murray just never panned out as a duo, and Murray was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans last offseason. Young received much of the blame and is often called out for the lack of defensive resistance he can provide.
Now in his seventh NBA season, Young is putting up some historic assist numbers thus far. Will he be able to keep it up?
Trae Young On Pace For Highest Assist Average Since 1993-94
Trae Young Has 236 Assists In 19 Games
In Friday’s upset win by Atlanta over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Young dished out 11 assists. The 26-year-old has missed just one of the Hawks first 20 games this season. Young has already accumulated 236 assists in 2024-25, giving him an average of 12.42 per game in his 19 outings.
Now the Hawks still have 62 games remaining, so a lot can change from now until the end of the season. Still, at his current rate, Young would have the highest assist average in more than 30 years. Nobody has averaged more than 12.42 since John Stockton averaged 12.57 in the 1993-94 season.
The 6-foot-1 Young had 22 assists in yet another upset victory over the Cavaliers on Wednesday. That is an NBA season-high so far this season. Young has now reached double-digit assist totals in six straight outings, and in 14 of his 19 appearances on the season.
While Young has never led the league in assists per game, he twice has led in total assists. In back-to-back seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23), he led with 737 and 741 respectively. For his career, he has averaged 9.63 per game which is third-most all-time.
Highest Assists Per Game Averages Of All-Time
While Young’s robust assist numbers this season are quite impressive, and something that hasn’t been seen in quite some time, he isn’t about to break a single-season assist average record. The aforementioned Stockton averaged an incredible 14.54 per contest in the 1989-90 season. Stockton’s 15,806 career assists are the most in league history.
Right now, Young’s assists per game average would be the 14th-highest in NBA history. Stockton has six seasons with more, and Magic Johnson has five seasons averaging more than Young’s current 12.42. The only two other players who have averaged more in a season are Isiah Thomas in 1984-85 and Kevin Porter in 1978-79.
Trae Young will have an opportunity to raise his seasonal assists per game average on Saturday when the Hawks take on the Charlotte Hornets. Atlanta is 9-11 on the season, tied for the seventh-best record in the Eastern Conference. On Friday, they became the first team in the East to officially advance to the knockout round in the NBA Cup.
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