Hawks Superstar Gets Surprising Placement In New ESPN Top 100

I think that it is time to start calling Trae Young the most underrated player in the NBA.

For someone as good as he is offensively (career averages of 25.5 PPG and 9.5 APG), someone who has made an All-NBA team (and three All-Star Games), and someone who has led his team to the conference finals, it does not seem that people acknowledge how good of a player that Young is and that was shown in the latest ESPN top 100 player rankings. Young checked in at No. 37 in this year's ESPN Top 100 and he dropped 10 spots from last year's rankings.

Some of the players that I would disagree with being ahead of Young would be Jrue Holiday (36), Scottie Barnes (34), Lauri Markkanen (33), Chet Holmgren (32), Jamal Murray (31), Domantas Sabonis (29), Zion Williamson (27), Paolo Banchero (24), Damian Lillard (23), Ja Morant (20), and Tyrese Maxey (19). All of these are great players, but I would argue that none of them are better than Young is right now.

Now, if you wanted to make the argument that some of these players could be better than Young in the future, that is more plausible. However, Barnes, Markkanen, Holmgren, Murray, Sabonis, Williamson, Banchero, Maxey, and Morant don't have the career accomplishments of Young. Holmgren has played only one season (a very good one), Murray is coming off of a terrible playoffs and Olympics, and Sabonis has not won a playoff series, let alone guided his team to the Conference Finals. Banchero took some serious steps forward last year, but I don't believe he is a better player than Young right now. Lillard is coming off his worst season in quite some time, Morant has not been on the court much for the past two seasons, and Maxey has lots of potential, but I would not call him a better player than Trae Young right now.

Young is not without his flaws of course. While he made some serious strides on the defensive end of the floor last year, he is still negative on that end of the floor. His shooting numbers could also stand to be better and more efficient. But there are not many players that can do the things he can do on the offensive end with his creation and playmaking. He is one of the five best offensive engines in the NBA,, but people are not valuing that as much and they are seemingly ignoring the fact that he did carry his team to be within two wins of the franchise's first-ever NBA Finals Appearance.

This is going to be a big season for Young. With Dejounte Murray traded, this roster seems to be built better around him and the pieces on this team are something that he has never had. This team is bigger, has more length and athleticism, and is better defensively. Young and this nucleus of players can surprise the NBA this year and this ranking will be worth revisiting.

Additional Links:

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