Three years after a memorable playoff series, Trae Young is still finding a way to butt heads with fans of the New York Knicks.
The bad blood has remained even though the characters have largely changed. Most notably, Young is still a key part of the rivalry and if there’s one thing he relishes, it’s giving Knicks fans a little something extra each time they face off.
The Atlanta Hawks guard had 23 points, 10 assists and six rebounds in a 121-116 win Wednesday night against the Knicks. It marked his seventh career 20-point, 10-assist game vs. them (regular season and playoffs), the most by any player against New York since Young entered the NBA in 2018-19, according to ESPN Research.
During an on-court interview after the win, Young had a simple message for the New York fans in attendance.
“I hope these New York fans find their way to the exit real real quickly,” he said. “Boo, take y’all a–es home.”
The Hawks amplified the trolling by resharing an Atlanta Falcons post that celebrated their 27-21 win over the Dallas Cowboys. The original bandwagon-fan joke was transformed into a triple threat that mocked three of sports’ largest fan bases at once: the Knicks, Cowboys and the New York Yankees in one post. The timing was particularly sharp, coming just days after the Yankees’ World Series defeat.
Young has often been enemy No. 1 for Knicks’ fans since the two sides faced off in the 2021 playoffs’ Eastern Conference first round.
He averaged 29.2 points and 9.8 assists as Atlanta eliminated New York in five games. At the end of Game 5, Young memorably took a bow at center court and waved goodbye to the New York crowd after icing the game at Madison Square Garden.
Since then, Knicks fans haven’t been shy about their treatment toward the All-Star guard, chanting “F— Trae Young” at various events, even if Young isn’t playing against them.
On an episode of Paul George’s podcast in August, he called the chants “super funny” while sharing an interaction with a fan and his reaction to the crowd.
“I’ll never forget this young little girl … just giving me the finger like right behind the scorers table. … There’s a lot of photos of me looking in the crowd just smiling,” he said. “That’s kind of my reaction. I’m just looking at the reactions of all these people just flipping me off. Ten minutes in the first quarter, I ain’t do nothing.”
New York will surely remember Young’s trolling from tonight. The Knicks and Hawks next face off in New York on Jan. 20.