Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American athlete Trae Young.
Last updated on December 21, 2024.
Rayford Trae Young is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners. In 2017, he tied the then-record in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I single-game assists with 22. Young became the only player to ever lead the NCAA in both points and assists in a single season. Nicknamed "Ice Trae", he was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2018 NBA draft with the fifth pick, and later traded to the Atlanta Hawks, along with a future first-round pick, for the draft rights to Luka Dončić. He joined Dončić in a unanimous selection to the 2019 NBA All-Rookie First Team. He is a two-time NBA All-Star.
People keep asking me if I feel pressure. But I don't feel pressure. I realize there's a lot on my plate, a lot of expectations for me to come in and win and do certain things. But I'm just playing the way I always have.
I want to do something different in this league, even as a rookie.
I'm getting guarded like nobody else in the country is being guarded, scouted on like no one else in the country is.
I'll never regret a moment I spent at the University of Oklahoma or my decision to stay home and become a Sooner for life.
Not a lot of people take advantage of that opportunity of being different. A lot of kids that are highly touted coming out of high school, like, doing the traditional thing and going to the blue bloods and all that, but I was always different growing up.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would become a constant topic for national television and radio shows - never mind mentioned by some of the country's most respected journalists.
To me, I'll always be the skinny, 5-foot-6 eighth-grader on the YMCA court, trying to get grown men to choose me for pickup games. It wasn't always easy. And that's what drives me.
Who wouldn't want to be compared to a guy like Steph Curry?
I bring immediate impact off the court as much as I do on the court.
I've played a lot of basketball during my life - and it's not always been good.
I want people to say that I'm something new, something different. Something they've never seen before.
I just hope I get picked by the right team and the team that really wants me and a team where I can help and take it to the next level.
I think I can pretty much do it all for a team. And I'm looking forward to whatever team I go to, making a huge impact.
The history behind the Garden and all the players that have come through and played on that court in the Garden, I think that the history is the reason why it still is, in my mind, the mecca of basketball. It definitely draws me in. That's the thing about New York; that's a big thing about the history, and the Garden is a big part of that.
I just try and make the right play. It led to me leading the country in points and assists.
My confidence level never varies.
I'm glad people get excited watching me play. Hopefully I show them something new each time I step on the court.
There's gonna be stretches where I don't play as well. People are gonna be talking bad about me and not always on my side and cheering me on.
My hair is different than a lot of people's. I like my hair. I like the fade. I like the little design I have. I'm cool with it. Obviously my hair is thin on top, so it looks like a bald spot, but I really could care less.
A lot of my family is from Texas, stuff like that, so I was always in Texas, and when you grow up in Texas, around Texas, you want to go to the biggest Texas school, and UT was that.
I'm just trying to be the best version of Trey Young.
It's a mystery coming out each and every game to try and figure out how a team is going to guard me and how I'm going to dictate how my team wins.
That's what my mindset is, making the right play and doing the right thing each and every possession.
I know what I need to work on, and I know what I need to prove and to show, and that's all that matters.
I'll always have a chip on my shoulder until I hang my shoes up. No matter how long I play this game, the chip on my shoulder will always be there. That won't change.
I'm actually enjoying attention. Who wouldn't?
When you're around somebody all the time, you butt heads every now and then. That's what happens in every family.
If I'm able to get drafted by the New York Knicks, it would be a blessing.
I think people get caught up a little bit in the fact of finding things that people can't do instead of looking at the things that the player can do.
I would love playing with a guy like Porzingis who can score, stretch the floor, who can do a lot, a lot of different things. But I could see myself doing some pretty good things with other teams, too.
I remember me being that kid growing up. Me being the kid that grew up going to games and being a ball boy and wanting a high five from Blake Griffin or the other players.
My goal is to the best player in the NBA. That's what I'm focusing on each and every day.
I love when people try to be physical with me. They think that's the way to try to guard me and to get physical with me. I use that to my advantage.
If you ask the guys I played with when I was little, they'll all tell you the same thing. All I did was catch and shoot. I didn't do anything else.
Rod Strickland has been influential. He gives me a lot of advice, good and bad games; he is someone I really look up to a lot.
I bring a lot to a team. I bring immediate impact. As far as my skillset, I can attack defenders in multiple ways and get my teammates involved.
I feel my overall skill set, my ability to make players around me better, and my ability to help my team win is unique.
I think my ability coming into the NBA is going to make it that much easier for me with the space and the different type of players here. I think just by the spacing alone is going to make my game that much easier and that much better for my teammates.
I was never the big leaper, the dunker, the long and athletic kid who looked the part of a traditional basketball star. Truth be told, I wasn't even considered a top guard coming out of my recruiting class.
I'm light-skinned. I'm mixed with black and white.
One of my dreams was being called a 'Diaper Dandy' by Dick Vitale. He calls me that all the time now. It's surreal.
My favorite player growing up was Steve Nash, so that's been a guy I look up to and a guy I've gotten to talk to a few times, too.
I'm just trying to get better each and every game.
That's the nature of basketball. You gotta go out there and compete.
I'm excited about getting the opportunity to show people that I can play defense.