Trae Young is encroaching on Dominque Wilkins for sixth all-time in franchise history for most three-pointers made. Currently at 478, Young only needs 22 more to move ahead of The Human Highlight Reel, who will surely be calling the game that night, making it even more special. He can thank Steph Curry for ushering in this new shooting era that has disbanded the Charles Barkleys of the world who believed an NBA team couldn’t win this way.
Take Blake Griffin, for example. The former first overall pick spent the first six years of his career jumping out of the gym and shooting 0.4 three-pointers per game. Fast forward to his time in Detroit, and he averaged 6.0 and 7.0 three-pointers per game over the course of several seasons. The game has already changed, and teams are scrambling to keep up. Brook Lopez is another example who started with the Nets and was widely regarded as one of the top centers in the league. In his first eight seasons, he took 31 three-pointers — 10 of which came in his eighth season — making three of them. Fast forward to his first year in Milwaukee; he averaged over six three-pointers per game.
In Trae Young’s first three years, he has averaged 6.0, 9.5, and 6.5 attempts from beyond the arc — respectively. His sophomore year of averaging close to 10 threes per game was an outlier because he was depended on so heavily to produce on the offensive end, given the lack of talent on the roster and John Collins‘ 25-game suspension. Young is a dynamic initiator who can score at every level, possessing an incredible ability to set his teammates up for easy buckets. Still, in this day and age, records are getting shattered due to the pure volume of shots and points NBA players are putting up.
The Hawks’ all-time leader in made three-pointers is the great Mookie Blaylock, who averaged 5.8 attempts over seven seasons in Atlanta. Now three years in the league, Trae is averaging 7.2 attempts from beyond the arc per game, and he’s shooting it with a higher percentage too. Iso Joe is second all-time and averaged 4.9 attempts per game over seven seasons with the Hawks; it’s only a matter of time before Ice Trae holds every shooting record in franchise history.
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