SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Hawks guard Trae Young sits in fifth place among his position group after the first round of fan voting for the NBA All-Star game.
Young has 791,354 votes, which puts him behind the Nets’ Kyrie Irving, Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell, 76ers’ James Harden and Celtics’ Jaylen Brown.
There are two more rounds of voting, with results of those rounds announced Jan. 12 and Jan. 19. The fan vote accounts for 50% of the total votes to determine the starters for the All-Star game, which is scheduled for Feb. 19 in Salt Lake City. The players vote and the media vote each account for 25% of the total votes. The NBA will announce the starters for the game Jan. 26.
Young has averaged 27.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 9.9 assists this season despite career-low shooting percentages. He has made 41.6% of his overall shots and 31.1% of his 3-point attempts.
Young has had to make some adjustments on the court this season following the Hawks’ acquisition of Dejounte Murray. The two guards have been trying to figure out how best to use their talents together, with varying degrees of success.
The Hawks rank ninth in the Eastern Conference and sit 2.5 games away from the sixth-place spot. The top six seeds avoid the play-in tournament.
It has been a bit of a tumultuous season for Young off the court as well. The Hawks star guard has been tied to controversy following an incident at the team’s shootaround before a game against the Nuggets. Reports revealed that Young and Hawks coach Nate McMillan disagreed on the guard’s participation at shootaround. That resulted in Young’s absence on the bench later that night.
In addition to that, Hawks president of basketball operations Travis Schlenk took a step back. Then reports revealed McMillan contemplated resigning from his role.
This all comes as the Hawks have won only four of their past 10 games. They snapped a four-game losing streak Wednesday with a 120-117 win over the Kings.
Along with Wednesday’s win and a loss to the Warriors at the buzzer in double overtime, the Hawks have been playing competitive basketball lately. They’ll look to finish their first West Coast trip with wins over the Lakers on Friday and the Clippers on Sunday.
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