Hawks guard Trae Young downplayed his reported spat with coach Nate McMillan when speaking to reporters Monday for the first time since The Athletic first broke the news of a heated exchange over the weekend. However, the media session began to grow tense as a member of the press pushed the two-time All-Star for clarity on the matter.
Young was not present at Friday’s game against the Nuggets, a decision that Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic reported was a conscious decision by the Atlanta point guard after a disagreement with McMillan during the afternoon shootaround. McMillan reportedly did not approve of Young’s plan to skip shootaround to focus on treatment for his right shoulder and provided his star with two options: Young could either play off the bench or not show up to the arena.
The 24-year-old reportedly chose the latter the Hawks ruled him out of the game with right shoulder soreness. When asked about Young’s absence on Sunday, McMillan told reporters that the point guard did not play on Friday due to a “miscommunication.”
When speaking Monday, Young offered up an opening statement on the situation but didn’t comment on any other details of the report, instead saying that it was “unfortunate” for a “private situation” to be made public.
“I mean we’re all grown men here and sometimes we don’t always agree. It’s unfortunate that private situations and private conversations get out to the public but I guess that’s the world we live in now,” he said. “But I’m just focused on basketball and focused on helping my team win. That’s what I gotta get to re-focusing on.”
Zach Klein of WSB Atlanta quickly followed up, pointing out it was public information that Young was not present for the Friday home game and asking why it was the case.
Young appeared briefly taken aback by the direct question before reiterating his previous thoughts.
"It's hard for people who don't know the full situation to understand it," Young said. “Like I said, it’s a private matter made public, which was unfortunate. If it stayed private it probably wouldn’t have been as big of a deal. Like I said it’s unfortunate. My job and my goal is to win a championship, and that’s all I’m focused on.”
Klein jumped back in and asked about the perception of Young not being in the Hawks arena supporting his teammates, prompting the 24-year-old to shoot down the notion there’s any conflict within the organization.
“When you’re an outside guy like you are and you don’t understand a private matter and private situation, you should probably stay on the outside,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that everybody has to understand and know a little bit of the details that went on inside. I mean, inside here we’re all good. If you’ve got any more questions about that you can talk to somebody else about it. That’s all I’ve got to say about it.”
Later in the session, Klein again pushed Young on his decision to not show up to the game, even if he wasn’t healthy enough to play. He pointed out Young’s teammate John Collins was present despite an injury, a comparison the 24-year-old didn’t seem to agree with.
“If I was healthy, I would’ve been playing … But you don’t know the full story. Again,” Young said while turning to look directly at Klein. When Klein tried to interject, Young stopped him, making clear that he didn’t want to address the matter further.
“A private matter needs to stay private,” he said again.
Young and the Hawks got off to a fairly slow start this season for a team with hopes of a deep playoff run, but have since begun to turn the tide. Though his shooting numbers are down across the board (41.1 FG%, 30.3 3PT FG%), Young is still averaging 27.8 points and 9.6 assists per game.
Atlanta is now 13–10 and in possession of the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference with more than half of the regular season still ahead.
