Trae Young a bonafide force in Atlanta

Increasingly around the NBA, there has been a familiar refrain: How do you solve Trae Young?

Indeed, in their fourth year point guard, the Atlanta Hawks have a player who can hurt the opposition in a number of ways. Put two players on him and that leaves the Hawks with a one-man advantage closer to the basket, where he can kick it to the likes of John Collins, Clint Capela or Danilo Gallinari for an easy two points. Clog the lane and he’ll rain three-pointers from beyond the arc.

The Hawks may be struggling around .500 but make no mistake – they’re talented and dangerous. Especially with Young running the offense.

At this writing, the 23-year-old former Oklahoma Sooner is third in the league in scoring and assists, with per-game averages of 27.8 and 9.3, respectively. He’s also averaging about four rebounds per game and has shooting percentages of 46 percent from the field and 38 percent from three-point range.

It’s a performance that’s earned Young his second All-Star Game appearance and first as a starter. Now if only he and his talented teammates – which also include Kevin Huerter, De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic – can get things going in the last two months of the regular season, the youthful Atlantans could make things interesting in the East come the playoffs.

Young and the Hawks can be seen in action Tuesday, March 1, when they invade TD Garden to face the Boston Celtics in a game airing on TNT.

FULL NAME: Rayford Trae Young BIRTH DATE: Sept. 19, 1998 BIRTHPLACE: Lubbock, Texas HEIGHT/WEIGHT : 6 feet 1 inch/164 pounds TEAM: Atlanta Hawks (2018-present)

POSITION: Point guard NO. :11 COLLEGE: Oklahoma DRAFTED: Selected in the first round (fifth overall) by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2009 NBA Draft, then was dealt to Atlanta

HONORS AND ACHIEVEMENTS: NBA All-Star (2020, 2022); NBA All-Rookie First Team (2019); consensus First Team All-American (2018); NCAA scoring and assists leader (2018); gold medal in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship (2016)