Trae Young: ‘If you forgot’ I can score, I’ll be more aggressive this year

Trae Young spent the preseason setting up teammates. He says that does not mean he has forgotten how to score, and if anyone else has, he plans to remind them.

The Washington Wizards guard joined NBA Today on Monday, two days before his first full season in Washington starts. The host noted that Young led the league in assists two seasons ago and asked how he balances being a scorer with getting everyone else involved.

“If you forgot”

“I think I’ve always been that way,” Young said. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve probably gotten better at it, of knowing when to pick my spots and knowing what the time in the game or what the possession needs for me.”

He said he tries to get teammates going early because he needs them to be aggressive and confident in the fourth quarter. Then came the warning. “But that’s not gonna take away from everybody knowing that I can score,” he said. “And if you forgot, then maybe I just have to continue to be more aggressive and be more myself, and that’s all I’m gonna do this year.”

The preseason numbers explain why he brought it up. Young averaged 7.5 assists in four exhibition games, near the top of the preseason assists list, but he made just 7 of 27 shots from the field and 5 of 19 from three. He scored 35 points in total, with 15 of them coming in the opener at Madison Square Garden.

It has also been a long time since anyone saw the full version of him. Young played only 15 games last season, 10 for Atlanta and five for Washington after the trade, and averaged 17.9 points and 8.0 assists.

The Garden energy is not going anywhere

He may have changed teams, but the Knicks rivalry came with him. The host brought up Young trolling Knicks fans at Fanatics Fest this summer and asked if that energy would follow him for the rest of his career.

“Fanatics Fest was fun. That was cool how it happened,” Young said. He added that he even talked about it with Jalen Brunson when Washington played New York in the preseason, an Oct. 8 game the Wizards won 111-109 at the Garden.

“It’s competitive, man,” he said. “For me, if the fans are gonna continue to chant my name and say F-you before it, I mean, you’re definitely gonna get that energy when I see you in the Garden. But for me, there’s a lot of other teams in the NBA that we gotta play. I’m not just focused on them.”

He will have to wait for the next one. The Knicks visit Washington on Dec. 18 and again on March 16, and Young’s next regular-season trip to Madison Square Garden is not until March 20.

What comes next

The Wizards open the regular season at home against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. ET (2 a.m. Cairo Thursday). Lineups and live stats are on the Game Center.