Young brings that cool and aloofness with him to the GAFFER 100, dripped out in a lime green jacket as he poses for photos with intention, his eyes fierce. As if he’s on the court still. But basketball is only half of his story. A father of two, the 26-year-old navigates the industry with his children in mind, geared to be the best parent he can be in a world of challenges and setbacks. He appears settled with the dichotomy of being one of the faces of the NBA while caring for a young family. In fact, he takes it in his stride. “The best advice my dad ever gave me was not to get too high or too low in a moment,” he shares. “I think that’s why I’ve been able to have success and sustain it and that kind of translates into fatherhood, making sure my focus is with my new family. [Basketball] is my job but as soon as I leave there, I make sure that being a dad is my job.”

While he embraces his life in fatherhood, Young’s professional life was mandated from early on. Born and raised in Texas, Trae’s father, Rayford, played at local college Texas Tech and there was no escaping his father’s passion. “My love of basketball came from being a kid,” he remembers, lighting up as he recalls his early days. “My dad and whole family played, my grandfather played and he passed away when I was 10 but I was always around him watching games.” He nods to his beloved grandfather throughout, echoing that, while he passed while Trae was still a child, he knew he had it in him to make it all the way to the top. In a 2022 interview with AndScape, Young said of his grandfather: “He wanted me to be the first one [in our family] to make it to the highest level, the NBA. My dad did a little bit, but my grandfather always knew I was going to be the next one.” “He’s who I do it for,” Young tells GAFFER. “Him and my whole family.”

Growing up idolising Lebron James, Young excelled in high school, averaging 42 points a game at Norman North High School in Oklahoma, bringing them championships along the way and earning a reputation as one of the most exciting college recruits in the country. When colleges came calling in 2017, Young stayed loyal to Oklahoma, joining the state’s university as a five-star recruit, a prestigious label for any college basketball player. Young shares that, while his success was monumental in high school, college represented a completely different animal. “I think that transition from high school to college is the toughest time for any player trying to get to the NBA,” he says. “As an American, I think picking the right school is the toughest thing to do, but luckily I picked a great school and it just made the transition a lot easier.” His solitary year at the University of Oklahoma with the Oklahoma Sooners proved he was the best college basketball player in the United States, leading in points and assists across all 50 states. Having seemingly completed that level, Young took a bet on himself, declaring for the NBA Draft and securing his date with destiny. Draft night 2018 saw him picked up fifth overall by the Dallas Mavericks, before being traded to the Atlanta Hawks for fellow future superstar Luka Dončić, where his talents could truly fly. “Draft night is a time where you can enjoy the moments leading up to it,” Young says. “All the hard work you put in and all the sacrifices you made.”

Nothing short of a mentality monster, Young’s ascension to the NBA has only elevated his talents. Quickly becoming the best player on the Hawks, he finished his first year averaging 19 points, eight assists and four rebounds, an amazing and promising return. His second season saw him leap to an average of close to 30 points a game and nine assists, confirming him as a truly elite shooter and playmaker. Three All-Star appearances in 2020, 2022 and 2024 is also nothing to scoff at, as he continued to plead his case as one of the league’s finest. So much so that Adidas tapped him up to make his own shoe, the Trae Young 1s, in 2021. But how does he get himself in the zone to drop an untold number of points on his opponents? “I splash my face with water before heading to the tunnel,” he confirms. “It allows me to wake myself up from the day before the game and get myself ready.”

Along the way, his adopted city of Atlanta has embraced him; rapper Quavo is a close confidant, quick to pick up Trae’s FaceTimes whenever, wherever. Meanwhile, basketball great Shaquille O’Neal is a big fan. “Being in Atlanta, I’ve always seen [Shaq] in restaurants, and he’s shown love,” Young says. “We all know he’s a big icon and it’s really cool to have someone like him support me. It’s not fake, and that’s what’s great about Shaq; he’ll send me messages. So it’s great to have his support.”

In the same breath, Young has also proven to be the bane of many NBA fans, drawing their ire in the most unexpected ways. His relationship with New York Knicks fans, to whom he has dealt particular pain having eliminated the Knicks from the playoffs in 2021, generates incendiary heat. But Young embraces it, famously hitting a game winner at the Knicks and shushing the crowd, his villain arc in full flow. He laughs as he outlines the lengths of fans’ vitriol: “It’s hilarious that I go to certain games like the Knicks, and a 10-year-old girl will flip me off like she’s an adult. So it’s not necessarily what fans say, sometimes it's their actions.” But his playful side endures. He turns into a general manager for a moment and reveals to GAFFER his perfect celebrity basketball lineup: Adam Sandler, Quavo and Chris Tucker. So much for his villain status!

Young’s crowning achievement to date was leading the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021, as close as the franchise has come to the NBA Finals since their last appearance in 1961. Though the Hawks fell short, Young had entered folklore with the organisation, proving that he could go the distance in the NBA and carry a franchise. 2023-24 saw him miss a portion of the season through injury, and the Hawks’ form would dip as they missed the playoffs. In a recent interview with Forbes, he made clear his intentions for the upcoming season: “Just to improve on what we did last year, just make it to the playoffs and find a way to get there. We just have to be better at taking it game by game. That's the motto, just get back there.”

But basketball is not the be all and end all of Young’s world. He’s an avid rap fan, citing Drake’s Take Care as his favourite album of all time, while seeing Travis Scott live is a highlight that will stay with him. If not for basketball, he’d explore painting in another life, and he loves pickleball, toying with the idea of going pro one day. Like many of his basketball peers, from Paul George to Draymond Green, Young has gone down the podcast route, launching his own, From The Point, in 2023. So far, he has welcomed Damian Lillard, Shaq and internet personality Funny Marco among other celebrities and athletes, with the podcast serving as a conduit for his opinions on the game and an insight to the real Trae. “A lot of people had brought the idea [of a podcast] to me and I thought that was really cool.” Young tells GAFFER. “There are a lot of narratives and things said about me that sometimes I want to clear up and sometimes I’ll let float out there until you meet me to get a different perspective. But I wanted to make sure that if I did want to clear something up, I have my own platform to go to.”

Young continues to build a world that isn’t reliant on his skills on the court, allowing him to shift focus to his interests beyond basketball and young family as he juggles all aspects of his increasingly busy life. His passion for the sport remains fierce and, at just 26, he has yet to reach his prime, which for basketball, dawns at around 28 or 29. A career that has already delivered so much is having its next chapters written, but when all is said and done, Young won’t be too far away. “I definitely want to stay in the sport in some way,” he says. “My son’s probably going to want to play, maybe my daughter. So maybe I’ll be an AAU coach or a kid's coach. But doing stuff with my kids is going to be the main focus.”