When the Atlanta Hawks traded away Euroleague MVP Luka Doncic in favor of collegiate superstar Trae Young, many thought Atlanta hade made an unfathomable blunder. Doncic had been playing professionally since he was 16, so the common narrative went, whereas Young was a flash-in-the-pan volume chucker who seemed to collapse down the end of the season as his Oklahoma team just barely qualified for the First Four in the NCAA Tournament.
How times have changed. After the two players started out with completely different trajectories – with Luka dominating and Trae struggling mightily over the first couple months of the season – now, the gap has narrowed to an almost infinitesimal degree.