Trae Young Speaks Out on Steph Curry Comparisons

It's hard to be compared to a legend. However, that was the situation that Trae Young found himself in early in his career. Coming into the NBA, the Atlanta Hawks guard was nicknamed the "next Steph Curry." It's a flattering title, but comparisons can be a burden for some players.

That wasn't the case for Young: the Hawks guard blossomed into a multi-time All-Star and one of the best lead guards in the league. Young has also more or less shaken off the Curry comparisons.

Appearing on Paul George's podcast, Young talked about those early Steph Curry comparisons. The Hawks guard said that he didn't pay too much attention to those comments. While he thinks they have similarities, he believes they have their differences that set them apart.

"I never paid too much attention to it," Young said. "I always felt like I took a little bit from everybody's game. We have some similarities, but there's some things about our games that's different."

The Curry comparisons mainly came from Young's affinity for deep three-pointers. Back in Oklahoma, Young became well-known for his deep shooting, similar to Steph's shooting. It made fans label him the "next Steph Curry".

Once he arrived in the league, though, Young showed that he's more than just a Curry clone. The Hawks star is still a prolific three-point shooter, making 37.3% of his threes last year. However, Young's calling card nowadays is his elite passing.

Averaging north of ten assists per game in the last two seasons, Young is one of the premier playmakers in the league. Curry is also a great playmaker, but he never reached the same heights as Trae did in that department.

After an injury-filled 2023-24 season, Young is looking to get the Hawks back to the playoffs. He averaged 25.7 points and 10.8 assists last season for Atlanta, earning his third All-Star selection.

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