Former NBA forward Marcus Morris ruffled some feathers with some recent comments he made about one of the more talented players in the league, Atlanta Hawks floor general Trae Young.
Morris first said that the point guard position is a dying breed in the best basketball league in the world, and when former NBA big man Kendrick Perkins mentioned Young, Morris said that Young didn’t start passing the ball like a point guard until not long ago.
Marcus Morris: There’s not a lot of point guards in the NBA anymore
Kendrick Perkins: What bout Trae Young
Marcus Morris: Trae Young is a good player but he just started passing the ball, he was shooting 3 pointers all the time throughout his career pic.twitter.com/aOXHSfbJHp
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) May 27, 2025
Unsurprisingly, Young’s father has come to the defense of his son. On X, he called out Morris for downplaying his son’s accomplishments on ESPN, but he also prefaced the post by admitting that he believes Morris to be a “great dude.”
He also seemingly took a shot at ESPN for how the network covers his son’s career.
Met Marcus a few times. Seems like a great dude. Probably just got caught off guard when Perk brought up Trae. Either that or it’s part of the job description to downplay my son’s accomplishments when you’re on that particular show!!😂🤷🏽♂️ https://t.co/gr2FDdodV7
— Ray Young (@rayfordyoung) May 27, 2025
There exists plenty of evidence that goes against Morris’ claim that the Young has just recently started to play like a point guard. For one, he boasts one of the highest career assist averages of any player to ever suit up in the best basketball league in the world.
Young has dished out a whopping 9.8 dimes per game for his career, and only floor generals John Stockton and Magic Johnson averaged more assists on a game-to-game basis.
On top of that, Young has never averaged fewer than 8.1 assists per game in any one NBA season since he was drafted with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
Young just led the league in assists per game in the 2024-25 season with a career-high 11.6 per game. All of those assists didn’t come without plenty of turnovers, though, as he gave the ball away 4.7 times per contest.
Considering the gaudy playmaking numbers Young has put up throughout his time in the NBA, his father seemingly has a legitimate gripe with Morris. Hopefully, Young will continue to function as an elite facilitator in the 2025-26 season.