Trae Young On ‘Podcast P With Paul George’

Trae Young discusses Dejounte Murray’s departure, wanting to make the Team USA roster for 2028, Zaccharie Risacher’s outlook for his rookie season plus more on “Podcast P with Paul George”.

We share this week’s episode of “Podcast P with Paul George”, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment, where PG and the guys are joined by Atlanta Hawks star, Trae Young to share his thoughts on the Hawk’s busy offseason, and Team USA’s Olympic performance.

During the episode, Trae discusses being compared to Steph Curry early in his career and the advice Steph gave him.

Young also talks about getting the opportunity to play alongside fellow all-star guard, Dejounte Murray and how difficult it was to see him leave the team via trade.

Trae also shares his thoughts on how he envisions #1 overall Draft, Zaccharie Risacher will perform in his first NBA seasons and why he doesn’t expect him or any of the other top picks in this year’s draft to be breakout star players right away.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• [7:54] TRAE ON PLAYING WITH DEJOUNTE MURRAY AND WHY THEIR DUO DIDN’T WORK OUT

Trae: “I mean it was good and bad, you know what I’m saying? The only bad part is we didn’t get to win as much as we wanted to be honest with you. The good part is we have a lifelong relationship. Our relationship goes outside of basketball. We’re both family men. Our morals are very much similar as far as who we have around us…The way we get along off the court is forever. That’s why our relationship is forever. But on the court, it’s just tough. We wanted to win but it’s just sometimes we’re not the first duo that couldn’t work and we’re not going to be the last…it just didn’t work out on the court and it sucks. It sucks and we both admitted it sucks and that’s just part of the game. If it doesn’t work, teams have to figure out what to do next and make moves.”

Trae: “I think it was tough. Both very unselfish in ways so it’s like there were times early where I’m just, I’m passing it to him and he wants to be aggressive but he’s a point guard too, so he’s not, you know what I’m saying, thinking score first all the time. But when I’m on the court sometimes he’s a shooting guard, but sometimes, you know what I’m saying? So it’s kind of like the combination just kind of didn’t work and on paper you may think it would because I mean in San Antonio he is a really good defender, known as just a defender, wasn’t really known as a scorer, but just a defender can kind of do everything. Rebound score, but get other guys involved. But when he came to us… it’s just a different feel and so it just sucks it didn’t work.”

• [10:55] TRAE ON HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT HAWK’S #1 DRAFT PICK ZACCHARIE RISACHER

Trae: “I spoke with him. A lot of people were talking about how I didn’t tweet about ’em or stuff on draft day and things like that. I’ve always done that and stuff, but I messaged him behind the scenes right before Summer League and just shot him some good luck. Just stuff like that and just stuff that people, I don’t even care for people to know, but obviously they’re going to know now. But, I talked to him a little bit behind the scenes. We ain’t got to work out yet, but he played right before summer league too overseas…I mean to be honest with you, and no disrespect to the guys that got drafted, I mean from the outside looking in…a lot of us look at them as role players coming in anyway….I feel like the GMs all this year are probably just trying to figure out who’s going to be the best role player for their team. As good as Alex Sarr is I don’t think he’s going to be their [Washington Wizards] franchise player going forward. You know what I’m saying? He’s going to be a great, great player, have a long NBA career, but just the outlook on any of these guys coming in. It wasn’t like they were going to be Luka [Doncic] type guys or Zions [Williamson] you know what I’m saying? Zions.”

• [22:21] TRAE SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ON STEPH CURRY COMPARISONS

Trae: “I never paid too much attention to it. I never was like, yeah, I’m about to be the next Steph. No, I always felt like I took a little bit from everybody’s game. My favorite player was Steve Nash growing up and he’s led the league in assists, multiple years and unfortunately he’s also led the league in turnovers, which I’ve done in a couple years too but I take pieces from a lot of players and so that’s why I feel like me and Steph, we have some similarities, but I mean I also get 10 assist a game.”

• [24:54] TRAE SHARES THE ADVICE STEPH CURRY GAVE HIM WHEN HE WAS ON THE TRADE BLOCK FOR THE FIRST TIME

Trae: “I remember the first time I ever was on the trade block and it was right before playing game and I think it was two years ago and that was like he texted me just telling me to stay focused and keep my head going and things like that. So he’ll drop some knowledge and give me some advice and things like that every now and then as a supporter. So he’s always been helpful.”

• [45:12] TRAE SAYS HE’D WANT TO JOIN TEAM USA FOR THE 2028 OLYMPICS

Trae: “I mean I got a house here, of course. Cali Olympics in 2028, of course. I mean of course nothing is given. Everything is earned. So we got a couple years that it’s just going to have to be earned and obviously USA has a lot of talent. We have a lot of players that could be a part of it, but of course, of course I want to, but we’ll see. I definitely will. It ain’t up to me, but if it was, I would definitely want to.”