Nathan Ray Seebeck - Imagn Images
Audio By Carbonatix
Trae Young has quietly had a pretty good season in Atlanta. It seems like he has flown under the radar due to so-so shooting efficiency, but he led the league in assists this year and led Atlanta to the 8-seed in the Eastern Conference despite the team battling injuries to key players all year.
But, during Tuesday’s Eastern Conference Play-In game between Atlanta and Orlando, Trae Young did not acquit himself well. Not only did he not play well, but he was embarrassingly ejected after throwing a temper tantrum.
The Hawks played well in the middle quarters, but were flat-out punked in the 1st and 4th quarters. After going down 32-17 after one and as much as 22 in the 2nd, Young and the Hawks got the lead down to just 3 points in the 3rd quarter. But, Orlando dominated the rest of the way, outscoring the Hawks 49-27 in the last 15 minutes.
That clearly led to some frustration for Trae Young. Take a look.
TRAE YOUNG CHUCKED THE BALL AT THE REF AND GOT EJECTED 💀 pic.twitter.com/QXFDQJUujQ
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) April 16, 2025
Trae, dude, what are you doing. He’s acting like a child out there because he’s frustrated. People have questioned his leadership in the past, and a play like that makes it totally clear why they would question it. Yeah, the Hawks were down 20 with 4:47 left, but it sets a terrible example and is not how a franchise player should act.
Young, who was just 8-21 from the field for 28 points and had just 6 assists, was a -22 for the game, the worst for all Hawks starters. They will play at home with their season online against the winner of Wednesday’s Heat-Bulls game.