Trae Young’s dad shares throwback photo of son with Stevens, Ainge originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Five years before he would be selected in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft, Trae Young met two of the most important people with the Boston Celtics.
Young’s father, Ray, shared a great photo Saturday of his son meeting Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge, who at the time were the Boston Celtics head coach and president of basketball operations, respectively.
The photo was taken eight years ago on this date in 2013. Check it out in the tweet below:
Young was a star at the University of Oklahoma, and in his only season with the Sooners, he became the first player ever to lead the NCAA in both points and assists. After that stellar 2017-18 campaign, Young was drafted with the No. 5 overall pick by the Dallas Mavericks. He was soon traded to the Atlanta Hawks for Luka Doncic and a future first-round pick (which would become Cam Reddish).
Unfortunately for the Celtics, they never had a chance to draft Young. The Celtics had the No. 28 pick in the 2018 draft, which they used to select Texas A&M center Robert Williams III. It’s turned out to be a pretty good pick so far.
Young has faced plenty of doubters in his pro career, and he proved many of them wrong this season by leading the Hawks to an Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
If the Celtics are going to return to the NBA Finals in the near future, there’s a good chance they’ll need to face Young and the Hawks to get there.