The NBA Draft is just over a week away and that means draft takes are heating up. The top pick seems all but assured to end up being Arizona’s Deandre Ayton, as he has only worked out with the Suns and said after that workout that he “knows” he’s going No. 1, even though Phoenix has brought in all the other top prospects.
Behind the Suns, though, there is plenty of uncertainty at the top of the lottery, with the Kings reportedly between Luka Doncic and Marvin Bagley III. After that, the Hawks, Grizzlies, Mavericks, Magic, Bulls, Cavs, and Knicks all have various players they’ll be posturing for and hoping fall to them, but each will be at the mercy of the teams in front of them.
For Atlanta, it will depend on how their tiers are set up, particularly if Ayton and Doncic go ahead of them, as it will likely come down to a trio of bigs: Bagley, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Mo Bamba. However, Trae Young was in Atlanta on Tuesday for a workout and the former Oklahoma star has gotten buzz as someone that could sneak into that top-5 given that he’s the top point guard on the board. Young’s abilities as an offensive weapon are tantalizing, and if nothing else he has the support of many fans, famous and otherwise, all over.
T R A E Y O U N G T O @ATLHawks
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T H A C U L T U R E I S B E H I N D
Y O U 🙌🏾 #THATSWATWENEED— QuavoYRN (@QuavoStuntin) June 12, 2018
That is Quavo from the Migos putting his full support behind the Hawks drafting Young, because he can be “ATL’s own Splash Bro,” referencing the ever-present comparisons to Steph Curry that have followed Young since he burst on the scene at Oklahoma. Young, unsurprisingly, is a fan of the idea.
M Y G U Y 4 T H A C U L T U R E
🔥💯👀🤷🏽♂️ https://t.co/6Sw9P4bDLg— Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) June 12, 2018
There are plenty of reasons for Young to want to join the Hawks. There’s the chance to be a star in the current hip-hop capital of the world, and thus hang out with the Migos, 2 Chainz, and the various other stars that sit courtside on any given night. There’s the financial incentive to be drafted higher and thus get a larger contract under the NBA’s rookie scale, and also the fact that he would come into Atlanta with relative free reign to do his thing in the backcourt without another top offensive player there — especially if Dennis Schröder is traded as expected.
That said, there are a lot of questions about Young as an NBA prospect, most of them on the defensive end, and those will likely preclude him from being in the mix at No. 3. That’s not to say it can’t happen, but it would be a surprising selection by the Hawks albeit a popular one for many fans.
