The Trae Young File

Name: Trae Young

Height: 6’1”

Position: Point Guard

High School: Norman North (OK)

AAU: MoKan Elite

Grade: 2017

Background:

Trae Young is the son of Rayford Young, who played basketball at Texas Tech and is 10th all-time on the Red Raiders scoring list. The 6’1” point guard plays for Norman North in Oklahoma and recently averaged 23.4 points and 3.4 assists per game as a sophomore. He played at the Nike Elite 100 camp last year which plays host to the top underclassmen in the country and this summer he has been invited to the Nike Basketball Skills Academy in Santa Monica.

AAU:

Playing for MoKan Elite in the 17U Nike EYBL, Young’s team is currently in second place with a 9-3 record and Young is sixth in the league in scoring with 20.1 points per game. He excelled in the second EYBL session averaging a shade under 21 points per game while knocking down 16 three’s over four games. He upped his scoring in Houston averaging 25.3 points per game although his outside shooting percentage dropped to 30%.

Young will not intimidate anyone from a physical standpoint, but the rising junior has no problem getting his shot off or finding open teammates for good looks. The right-hander has a quick release and deep range on his outside shot. He sets his feet quickly coming off a pick and can pull-up off the dribble. He also excels at using his off-hand (left) to push the ball down the court. While not an above the rim finisher, Young utilizes nifty moves combined with subtle head fakes to keep defenders off balance. At times Young can fall in love with his outside shot at the expense of generating offense for his teammates, but so far he has created a deadly 1-2 punch with his friend and teammate Michael Porter Jr.

Schools:

Young has offers from the majority of Big XII schools. He picked up an offer from Shaka Smart and Texas before the Lexington EYBL and after averaging 21 points per game he added offers from Kansas, Missouri, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and UCLA. UNC and Duke have also been in contact and UConn and Houston had extended offers prior to the AAU season.

Quotes:

“Well I do a little bit of everything. I try to be the leader of the team. I still need to work on every part of my game. I feel like I am good at pretty much everything, but I want to be great at every part of my game. I just need to keep working hard.”

“We’ve talked about it since the 7^th grade when we were playing against each other, but this is the first year that we are actually playing with each other,” noted Young when asked about playing with Michael Porter, the No. 3 prospect in 2017. “We’ve talked about it a lot, it’s fun playing with him it’s really easy for me.”

“I’m trying to enjoy the process. Not a lot of people get to do it. If there is a place further from home, that I feel comfortable with and my family would feel comfortable with me being there that is something I would take. Right now I’m not worried about it. Just trying to get better each day so hopefully I’m relevant to them when it comes time to make that decision.”