Trae Young’s Next Big Shot

Trae Young is doing exactly what he says he will do, knowing and trusting his path.

Trae did not make the decision.

Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari traveled to Oklahoma to try to get a commitment from Trae.

The Young family has a living room. The house smelled like Pine-Sol because Trae's mother had been cleaning it. Calipari made small talk with Timothy, Trae's little brother, and then pulled out a notebook and began his pitch. He read names like Anthony Davis and Karl- Anthony Towns. The draft rounds are first, first, first. The NBA contract figures of his former players were in the billions of dollars.

Come to Kentucky. I will make you a first-round pick. I will make you millions of dollars.

Trae listened calmly. He asked about Kentucky's style of play but gave nothing away. Interested, not needy. It was Duke's Coach K a couple of weeks before Calipari, and then it was Bill Self a couple of weeks later.

Trae said no thank you. A few minutes down the road it would be Oklahoma.

Trae says that he has more confidence in himself than anyone else, because he knew the work that he put in at 6:30 in the morning.

Life as 11-year-old Timothy Young doesn't look bad to Trae Young. Todd Kirkland is a photographer.

Think of the contradictions in the moment, like the soft-spoken, private young man. A player who shoots from logos, nutmegs defenders, with fans, who has a signature Adidas shoe, a top 10 selling jersey and one of the most marketable profiles in the league, but who will tell you the person he would most like to be besides himself is his 11-

Rudd describes Trae as a very boring person. He wants to get better at basketball. Quavo calls Trae a " homebody." After games, Trae goes home and watches his games. On his days off, he does recovery work or watches movies at home. The new Venom and Kevin Hart's True Story are two of his favorite movies and shows right now. He likes the Christopher ReeveSuperman films, where he will be getting beat up by Batman? That is another story. He says that he cannot stand that.

Trae takes the bow, that preplanned bit of showmanship, and longs for quiet pleasures -- the baby brother is able to go to NBA basketball games and be a kid.

Trae knows what a stage is and what it is not, but he likes Oklahoma. It is a nice place to live.

Think about the questions that are hanging over him. There are questions about how to be.

Ray reflected on their relationship when he told his father that Trae would be his little brother.

He says that he made that comment because he knows I don't push Timothy as hard as I pushed him.

Sometimes Trae and I would argue and he wouldn't agree with a lot of what I wanted him to do, but maybe he felt that I was living my life through him. He doesn't see that with me and Timothy.

I think a lot of what Rayford said is true, but I also think that Trae likes Timothy's stuff.

Young has always been the best player on the team, but now he knows he needs to be a leader. Scott Cunningham is a photographer.

The moment is not enough. If Trae Young does not create bigger, more consequential moments, he will have failed his own promise.

Trae is 23 years old, recently engaged, and in his fourth season in the NBA and heading to his second All-Star Game this weekend. He led the Hawks on a thrilling playoff run last season that included a win over the Knicks and a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals. Trae is fifth in points per game and third in assists and is the only player in the league to be top five in both categories. He is a master of the ball screen. He can seem unguardable despite his size.

The All-Star Game was held in Atlanta last year. Ray insists that Trae is not going into the All-Star Game with an agenda.

Trae was left so disappointed with his omission that he had to go to Florida for a few days. Ray told Trae that if there was a question, he would never get the benefit of the doubt.

Trae thought that his scoring was down because the Hawks were playing better basketball. The next few months would show him that he's right. On the day of the All-Star Game, the Hawks were two games into an eight-game winning streak that would see them finish the season with a 27-11 record. The Eastern Conference finals were all about that.

The Hawks have struggled to maintain their lineup and rotation this season due to injuries and illness, and are clinging to the last play-in position. Their offense is elite, thanks to Young's productivity and increased efficiency. He has scored 40 or more five times this season, which is fourth most in the NBA. And is second in assist percentage. He will need to do more if they want to win titles.

"He knows for his team to win he's got to be a leader and put up stats and help make all his teammates better," Ray says.

Trae Young's moment suggests possible futures.

Trae is a developing player with a team that is growing up with him. Trae is learning and growing in many ways, but no one will talk about what kind of leader Trae is. He thinks that you can't force people to be leaders. I think he has to develop that and that is something he is working on. The expectations changed from last year to this year. I think it is too early in his career to say what that is.

Lou Williams, a three-time Sixth Man of the Year, says Trae blends in in a locker room. He has a lot of respect for the older guys. He shows a lot of respect, but he doesn't demand much. He doesn't really ask for much. He follows our lead. His next step will be to command respect from guys and run a locker room that he likes. That will translate out on the floor.

Trae's high school and college coaches say that his on-court brilliance made him a better leader of a locker room than his voice. Trae will tell you that it is an area of growth.

Trae says he was never the loudest in the room because he was a younger kid playing with older guys. As I get older, a point guard in the league needs to be vocal.

"You ever see Drumline?" McMillan asked.

When the director said they were going to mix a little old school with the new, you remember? They put out a performance that won them the classic. I don't want Trae to take your game away, but that's what I want from Trae. He goes, and he pushes, and he attacks, but sometimes you have to slow down and mix a little old school with your new school.

One of his favorite metaphors was used by McMillan.

You could be a cloud or sunshine at that point guard position. sunshine is a player that your teammates light up when they play with you, because they know that it is going to be fun.

Think of Trae Young as light and the Garden as a dichroic crystal. Think of the moment as a property of light, its ability to be dispersed into its component colors.

Steve Nash was sunshine, Magic Johnson was sunshine, and Stephen Curry was sunshine.

Is Trae Young?

He has a special talent that we haven't seen at that position, his ability to score, as well as facilitate, and I think he can be sunshine.

Dotun AkintoyeAkintoye is a writer for ESPN. He has previously written about Jake Paul and Israel Adesanya.

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