Revisiting The Step Back’s 2018 NBA 25-under-25 list

Miss: Trae Young outside the top 35

Sure, I’ll admit it: when the Hawks traded Luka Doncic for Trae Young and a top-five protected pick, I thought it had a chance to go down as one of the worst NBA trades of the century, if not ever.

Here’s the crazy part: despite Trae Young averaging 25.7 points, shooting 42.7 percent from deep and dropping 8.9 dimes a night while leading the Hawks to a 5-6 record since the All-Star break, the possibility that this trade is a disaster for Atlanta still exists. Doncic has that kind of ceiling.

It doesn’t excuse us from ranking Trae Young so low. He was outside of even the Honorable Mention section and all the way down at 41, one spot below Josh Jackson, two spots below Andrew Wiggins and three spots below his own teammate, Taurean Prince. He’s second in the entire freaking league in assists. Talk about a slap in the face.

Where would he slot in a do-over? He’s somewhat separated himself as the second-best rookie this year, although long term concerns about his defense still exist. The Hawks aren’t much worse on that end when he plays, but in high stakes April and May basketball, he’ll be targeted relentlessly. He’s also finishing only 53 percent of his looks around the rim, which is in the 13th percentile league-wide according to Cleaning the Glass.

Even so, his passing vision is elite and his shooting looks like it may get there as well. His size means he’s a notch below the level of prospect that Ben Simmons, Donovan Mitchell or De’Aaron Fox are, but there’s arguably no other under-25 point guard you’d rather have. Young vs Jamal Murray feels like a fun discussion we’ll have when we do this next season.

But neither Young, Doncic or Fox should feel as insulted by their placement as the final two men we spotlight here…