Trae Young had not put on his jersey for the game against the Nuggets on Saturday. Worse than that, “Ice Trae” wasn’t even in the room. While we thought it was just a rest game for the leader, Shams of The Athletic revealed that the arsonist’s absence from ATL was the result of a nasty falling out with his coach Nate McNillan.
Not so good in Atlanta right now. Proof of this, Shams Charania and Sam Amick revealed this weekend that a quarrel had broken out in the Hawks locker room between Young and the coach. According to them, the point guard would have refused to participate in a shooting session to take care of a slight sore on the shoulder, something that would not have pleased McNillan. From then on, the latter would have given his all-star an ultimatum: get off the bench against the Nuggets or just not come to the game at all. As you can imagine, Young chose option number 2. Despite his absence, the Hawks won their duel against the Nuggets by winning 117-109.
Nothing to worry about (normally)
We doubt that this little mess will end like that of Deron Williams with his coach Jerry Sloan in 2011 who had made the latter resign from the controls of Jazz and sent the leader to Brooklyn. After the Falcons’ victory, McNillan tried to put out the fire, saying it was a simple misunderstanding. Trae Young is expected to return tonight against OKC. This slight rise in tension should therefore lead nowhere, however, the point guard and his friend Dejounte Murray are in the process of pissing off a lot of people at the moment. There are a lot of people to do the old rookie counterattacks and have gunshot celebrations at every three points, but when it comes to closing easy matches to grab the East podium there is no one left. More basketball, less hateful skills please.