For Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young, Oklahoma is home during NBA Finals

OKLAHOMA CITY – Long before NBA All-Star guard Trae Young ever hit a 3-pointer in an Atlanta Hawks uniform, he was a Oklahoma City Thunder fan.

The Norman, Oklahoma, native saw NBA guard Chris Paul playing in Oklahoma City for the New Orleans Hornets when they were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Young was ecstatic when the Seattle SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008. And the former University of Oklahoma star also used to get his father, Rayford, to bring him to Thunder games early so could watch the likes of Steve Nash, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook work out before games.

Young believes that the Thunder will defeat the Indiana Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals that began here Thursday night. Indiana leads the series 1-0 after a stunning 111-110 win in Game 1.

“It’s going to be a good Finals for us Thunder fans,” Young said. “It’s going to be fun to watch. Obviously both teams are different. They both bring different tendencies. Obviously, Oklahoma City’s been the best team all season. They’re so loaded. They’re not just the starting five; their bench is loaded. They have one of the best coaches in the league and I feel like he’s very well respected.

“And Indiana is the same way. They’re on a hot run and it says something about their team and it’s going to take a lot out of them… But I feel like the Thunder, obviously, are the better team. And it’ll be surprising, not just everybody in this room, but everybody outside of this room if they lose.”

The following is a Q&A session that Young had during Kendall-Jackson’s Finals Wine Dinner on Wednesday night at Vast. The four-time NBA All-Star reflected on how his early basketball influences, the impact the Thunder and the Hornets had on him during his youth, his time with the Hawks, living and playing in high school and college in Oklahoma, his disappointment in NBA commissioner Adam Silver considering changing the All-Star Game to a USA versus World format, life in Oklahoma and much more.

Who were your first basketball influences?

My first influence was my grandfather, who passed away when I was 10, who was my ultimate influence. He is who I pray to before every game and talk to before every game. That’s my biggest influence. But growing up in Oklahoma, I don’t know if everybody remembers the Oklahoma City Hornets. When Chris Paul came and Hurricane Katrina happened, being a kid, knowing I wasn’t going to be the tallest guy in the room, I knew I had a short dad, so I knew what position I was going to have to play if I made it to the NBA.

I knew I had to look up to certain people. And my favorite player growing up was Steve Nash. I love Steve Nash and I was able to work out with him my rookie year a couple of times. But Chris Paul was my ultimate probably first memory of being an NBA fan of watching a guy and him being here in OKC. His rookie year being Rookie of the Year was probably a big inspiration for me.

What do you remember about the Thunder arriving to Oklahoma City in 2008?

When KD [Durant] was here and Russ, James, those guys… You could definitely feel the energy. I remember a couple days after James got drafted being in Penn Square and just watching him come down the escalators and he just a regular guy. Obviously, he wasn’t a regular guy at that point, but he had just got drafted. But he’s a rookie and nobody really knows who he is and things like that. And those are memories that I’ll never forget. And I’m seven years into the NBA, it’s still crazy to me. And now he’s MVP, obviously he’s not here anymore, but he still talks about even they always joke about it.

All the greats that played here, they all still joke with me. Like Russ, every time he sees me, he talks about the love I have for Oklahoma, the love we all have for Oklahoma and the people here. Just the people and why we’re all like everybody here is so nice. And so, those guys, they brought a different energy.

So, did you convince your dad to make you get you to the games early to you watch these guys work out? Is that true?

Yeah, for sure. Everybody knows about [Curry’s] two-ball dribbling and pregame routine thing that he would do before the game. I didn’t know why it was so packed in the arena. I didn’t understand why people [came early]. We eventually got season tickets and then I eventually started going up there early, like an hour and a half right when the doors opened and we just go stand there and watch guys’ pregame routine. So, some of the stuff that guys I watched growing up is some of the stuff that I do now in my pregame routine… Going there an hour and a half early was a big thing for me.”

What were your fondest memories at Norman North High School and the University of Oklahoma? I don’t know if you even foresaw going to the NBA that quickly, but when you think back to that time, what brings you most joy?

I hate that I never won a state championship. Norman North still has never won a state championship in boys’ basketball. It hurts me going in that gym and only seeing a 2016 state runner-up. It still hurts me to this day. But to be honest, that state championship run or sneaking to the state championship game was so fun for me because I knew I was going to go to college and was going to play at a Division I level. That was my junior year, but I didn’t know where. So, winning the state championship would’ve meant so much for me. It’s all those friends that I had on that team that was so fun.

And going to college, I told [then-Oklahoma head coach Lon] Kruger before the season started, obviously, I thought I was going to be there for three years. And that was the thing that we both kind of understood and we actually thought. We talked about him retiring whenever I left after three years… I ended up playing good the first few games and I ended up being on draft boards and things like that. And just everything changed and so we started winning all the way at the top three in the country and everything was just a different level then. So I ended up leaving [to the NBA] after a year, but that whole year was so fun for me.

You met your wife here. You have a house in Los Angeles and you have a house in Atlanta. But you and your wife choose to raise your family here in offseason. Why?

Obviously, besides the fact that this is home for both of us, I think anybody who comes Oklahoma City, it’s kind of funny that a lot of people who are here now for the Finals that when you get here the first thing they tell you is like, ‘Oh my gosh, everybody’s so nice.’ The hospitality and the way people are. The way it greets you. That’s a big reason why I feel like I am the way I am, the way my wife is the way she is. I feel like that’s just who people are that are around here in Oklahoma.

I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s the clouds or what it is. But it is something that just makes people just appreciate things. And I’m not saying it’s a 100 percent, but I just feel like for the most part that’s just what really draws me and my wife wanting to be here for the summertime and want our kids to grow up here. Obviously, when I’m done, I’m going to live here. We just finished our house here in Norman. It’s not too far outside the city, so I mean this is going to be a place I call home forever. So, I just love the people here. I love everything about it.

You’ve been with the Hawks for six seasons now with career averages of 25.3 points and 9.8 assists per game. You are the face of the Hawks. What do you think your legacy is there so far?

I let other people talk about that and describe my legacy for the Hawks. I love being in Atlanta. That’s my second home. I don’t want to talk about what I’ve done there and what people look at me as. I go out there and play hard and we went on one run [to the Eastern Conference finals] and we haven’t been back since. But I have a feeling, hopefully, we’re here playing the Thunder next year and I’m not having this [dinner]. Y’all will be watching me [in the NBA Finals] here in OKC.”

What’s the reason to be excited about the Hawks’ future?

We had the No. 1 pick last year [Zaccharie Risacher] that has made strides and almost won Rookie of the Year. We have a lot of young really good players. We have a great coach. We have a lot of stuff that is promising. We have a big season ahead for sure though.

What is it like for you when you’re in that zone shootin-wise? What is it like when you’re shooting a logo 3 and how euphoric is it to be in that zone?

It is so hard to describe the zone for me. You’re in a moment and you’re in a zone. You’re just playing. And sometimes you hear guys describe it like shooting into an ocean. Everything you throw up is going to go in and you get into a zone and then if you win, you get to the locker room and then you exhale and it’s like all the adrenaline goes away and you’re like, ‘Oh s—, that really happened.’

You don’t really feel it when you’re in the zone in the game. After the games, obviously, you may see certain things [on social media and online] or your friends may tell you whatever, but it’s in the game. It’s just the reps from the summertime and all the work that you put in, it just goes into motion. You don’t know how to describe it. That’s it.

What will Oklahoma City be like if the Thunder win an NBA title as you expect them to?

I’m going to be in my house. My first-ever All-Star Weekend [playing in the Rising Stars Challenge] when I went as a rookie, I couldn’t go on Sunday. I needed my first time to be when I experienced it. I can’t go to no parade in the city until it was my first time. I love the Thunder to death. Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] was right next to me at [the 2025] All-Star Weekend. Our lockers were right next to each other. So, we were talking about our kids, things like that, about the city where he’s living. And yeah, I told him, ‘I hope y’all win if it ain’t us.’ But I ain’t going to be in the parade and all that stuff. So, I’ll watch it and tune in and share from the sideline.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said, and you can speak on it because you’re an All-Star, that the 2026 NBA All-Star Game could have a USA versus World format. What do you think about that?

[Note: Silver said June 4 on Sirus XM radio that it’s possible the NBA could do a USA versus World format in the 2026 All-Star Game, but on Thursday backtracked, saying he was “looking at something that brings an international flavor.”]

Just go back to East versus West. Give the guys the regular [game], the throwback jerseys. My opinion is different. It is all about an incentive and guys are making it about an incentive. But if you make at USA versus the world it’s going to be lopsided. We know the six world guys. We know Shai, Luka [Doncic], [Nikola] Jokic, Giannis [Antetokounmpo], and then it drops…

You just need to go back to East-West. Make it where maybe the winner gets [homecourt] for the Finals. The winning side gets to host the Finals regardless of the record. Or maybe make it where one team gets a high incentive and the other team gets nothing. We all want to play against each other, especially for any type of incentive will help our families, whatever. So just go back to making it the original. The USA versus the world, I’m not going to be the only person that says they don’t like it. And the players are going to be the ones that’s in it… The players are the one that’s going to make the game what it is, what it needs to be. Just listen to the players. I don’t understand that format…

There are so many obligations that we have to do during the day of the game and it’s not even about the game. Us as players, we’re waiting and sitting, me at 26 [years old], I can sit down for 35 minutes and get up and go play pretty full speed. But you’re asking guys like LeBron [James], Steph, KD who are 36 and [up], James Harden, who are getting voted in [as starters] and we’re sitting there for 30, 45 minutes of breaks and getting up and going to play 10 minutes and coming down and sitting for 30, 45. There’s so many things that go into it. We have the best commissioner of any of the sports, but I mean there’s days that it can be better and hopefully is better in the future.