Trae Young is typically an even-keel sort of player. It always seems like he’s having fun when he’s playing basketball.
So it was surprising Wednesday when he absolutely berated an official after not getting a call at the end of the Hawks loss to the Mavericks. He was very clearly unhappy.
Yes, Young complains to officials quite a bit. But this was much more than that. He actually got in the ref’s face at the end of the game.
The reaction came from the final play of the game. Young set a screen for John Collins off of the ball to cut to the rim. Willie Cauley-Stein, the man guarding Collins, absolutely blew Young up on the play and knocked him to the ground.
There was no foul called and the play continued. The Hawks missed the shot and lost the game. Young was over it.
Trae Young was HEATED after not getting a foul 😡 pic.twitter.com/H71UEDElQg
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 11, 2021
No idea what was said there but, clearly, it wasn’t great.
As far as the no-call, Young did have a point. He got ran over. And of course he did. Willie Cauley-Stein is way bigger than him. That was part of the reason why the refs chose to just let the play continue.
Officials said the play wasn’t called because it was incidental contact, according to the pool report.
Crew chief Josh Tiven via a pool report: “In the game the contact between Young and Cauley-Stein was deemed incidental and therefore we didn’t have a whistle on the play. After reviewing the play postgame we still feel that a no-call was the correct decision.”
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) February 11, 2021
Doesn’t seem like the Hawks will get much love on the last two minute report that comes out after this game.
Either way, though, it’s not a good look for Young to have berated an official like that. Of course, Young didn’t get a technical foul because the game was over.
But don’t be shocked if a fine comes his way, at the very least.
