Although Trae Young didn`t face the New York Knicks in the current postseason, he found a way to provoke his long-standing rivals. While watching Sunday`s Game 7 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets, the Atlanta Hawks guard posted on X (formerly Twitter), making a slight jab at Knicks supporters.
He praised the volume of the Thunder fanbase, claiming they were louder than Knicks fans, with whom Young has a history of public disagreements.
The rivalry between Young, a former Oklahoma Sooners player, and the Knicks organization and fanbase originated during the 2021 postseason. In that series, Atlanta eliminated New York in five games in the Eastern Conference first round. Young famously bowed to the crowd at Madison Square Garden after securing the series win in Game 5.
The teams met again the following Christmas Day, a game marked by persistent anti-Young chants from the crowd at MSG, despite the fact that the All-Star guard was not playing due to injury. More recently, after the Hawks defeated the Knicks in the NBA Emirates Cup quarterfinals, securing a trip to play in Las Vegas, Young performed a “rolling the dice” gesture on center court at Madison Square Garden, another taunt towards the home crowd.
This past regular season, New York won the series against Atlanta 3-2. The Hawks, with Young, failed to qualify for the playoffs this season after losing both their play-in tournament games, while the Knicks have advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.