The 2022-23 season was quite the rough one for the Atlanta Hawks as they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. There was reportedly some turmoil behind the scenes too and Trae Young was at the center of it.
Shams Charania reported that he and former head coach Nate McMillan butted heads and following McMillan’s firing, some started considering him to be a ‘coach killer.’ Young was asked about that notion regarding him and he refuted it.
“Being labeled a coach killer was crazy to me,” Trae said on the Draymond Green Show. “I mean Lloyd (Pierce) coming in, he was perfect for us. We came in together. I got nothing but love for LP. With Nate like, he had taken over halfway through the year and he wasn’t even guaranteed to go further on. He didn’t know how longer he wanted to coach.
“But we went to the Eastern Conference Finals and we were winning and he wanted to keep coaching us and we were all excited and doing that and we wanted to keep rolling with him,” Young continued. “And then obviously, he gets let go. People wanted to use me again as a crutch for that. For real, like, we had a really good relationship to begin with, that’s the only reason why he stayed and stuck around.”
"Being labeled a coach killer was crazy to me."@thetraeyoung responds to the "coach killer" narrative 🗣️
Full episode exclusively in the B/R app @TheVolumeSports https://t.co/pQAWtrVgbp https://t.co/6dg91KXOsy
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 15, 2023
Young added that he hopes Quin Snyder, who took over from McMillan, can be his Steve Kerr, who helps the Hawks win multiple championships. Trae had a fine campaign on an individual level with averages of 26.2 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 10.2 APG, and 1.1 SPG last season, but the Hawks finished just 41-41 and Snyder will be tasked with changing their fortunes.
While Young here claimed that he had no issues with either Pierce or McMillan, reports did indicate he had a strained relationship with both. What exactly has been going on behind the scenes is something we might not find out for a while.
Trae Young Spoke About Becoming A Villain
Trae has become somewhat of an NBA villain in recent years, and it all stemmed from that playoff series against the New York Knicks in 2021. He spoke about that during this episode and made it clear that it wasn’t fun to be seen as the villain.
Young stated that he didn’t do anything to anger the Knicks fans, but the crowd started chanting “F*** Trae Young” very early on in Game 1. In response to that, he then proceeded to give it back to them by bowing and trash-talking. Trae said he just wanted to go out there and put on a show and win, but their actions led to him reacting in that manner.
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