Kicking Michael Jordan Out of His Starting 5, Trae Young Risks Fan Backlash With Bold Choice

Having named LeBron James as his GOAT already, Trae Young has snubbed Michael Jordan in another category. The 6x NBA champ has, in a majority opinion, at least been considered the greatest shooting guard of all time, if not the overall GOAT. But the Atlanta Hawks star has a different name on his mind that better suits the role.

During his appearance on Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, Young faced the task of choosing his team of 12 players from NBA history. To podcast host Gillie Da Kid‘s surprises, the Hawks star named Kobe Bryant as his shooting guard over MJ. “That’s (Kobe) my Michael,” Young stated. And Kid’s reaction seems justified given that His Airness outshines the Black Mamba in every key statistic. This includes points per game, rebounds per game, and assists per game.

But Young did not stop there, as he further shocked Kid by not including Michael Jordan in his starting 5. “Mike’s my 6th man,” Young said on the podcast. However, the 3x All-Star seemed to have his reasoning behind his choice. He stated he can’t have Jordan playing small forward as that position, according to him, belongs to Kevin Durant. “That’s (KD) one of my idols. And then LeBron at the 4. And then I’m putting Shaq at the 5.”

Even we knew Young would choose Bron as his power forward, as he had already stated King James to be his GOAT over the Chicago Bulls legend. However, the 25-year-old mentioned if the condition on the podcast didn’t require him to play, he’d give MJ his spot (point guard) on the team. But that not being the case, he stated he would have Mike as the first player coming off from the bench.

Notably, this is not the first time that an NBA star has snubbed Michael Jordan in favor of the Black Mamba. Despite his past differences with Bryant, Dwight Howard once stated, “I think Kobe is better than MJ, skill-wise.” However, Young may as well have a personal reason behind his choice of shooting guard on his fantasy team.

Kobe Bryant had a lasting impact on the Atlanta Hawks’ point guard

During a previous interview, Trae Young faced the question of his unusual source of motivation. Yes, it was none other than Kobe Bryant himself. The 3x All-Star revisited the time when the LA Lakers icon came to one of his basketball camps.

“I’ll never forget the story Kobe told all of us at one camp. He came in, flew in on his helicopter, landed. We all were sitting down at half-court, and he walked in. The moral of the story was, ‘Us lions, we need sheep to hunt,'” Young recalled. The Hawks guard mentioned that he, since then, has always tried to carry that mentality with him every single time that he set foot on the court.

And this has been reflected in Young’s gameplay. With an impressive performance in the league, the 25-year-old has already surpassed Michael Jordan in having consecutive games where he scored 30 points and 10 assists. While MJ had 5 such consecutive games, Trae achieved 7 such games and thus equaled Oscar Robertson. Having such a Kobe impact on himself, it was only natural for the Hawks star to choose the Black Mamba over His Airness.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.