“I was very impressed by his toughness and his resilience that day for sure” — Steph Curry’s trainer speaks up on Trae Young
Steph Curry and Trae Young
© Kyle Terada - USA TODAY Sports
Trae Young will always be linked to Steph Curry because of the similarities in their game. The Atlanta Hawks star trained with Curry this past offseason, and realized his conditioning needed more work after Curry's trainer, Brandon Payne, said he had difficulty keeping up with the Golden State Warriors MVP at first.
"After he caught himself, he was good, he was ready, and he finished the entire workout," Payne said of Trae. "But that initial burst of those initial few minutes was a little tough on him. But, like I said, he recovered extremely well. I was very impressed by his toughness and his resilience that day for sure."
Ice Trae learning from the best
The fact Young spent time working out a rival shows how much he is willing to hone his craft.
Unfortunately, it does not seem like the two-time All-Star's training with Steph has led to improvements this season. Young's scoring efficiency has dipped significantly. From shooting 46.0% from the field and 38.2% behind the 3-point line in the 2021-22 season, he is converting just 41.1% of his shots and 30.3% of his 3-pointers this campaign.
There is still plenty of time to bring those shooting splits up. And Atlanta will likely need him to do as much because the team is just 12-10, which ties it with the Philadelphia 76ers for the fifth-best record in the Eastern Conference.
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Maybe it's Curry who found inspiration, as the 34-year-old is connecting on a career-high 51.8% of his field goal attempts. The four-time champion is continuing to turn a lot of heads even though he is already playing in his 14th season in the Association.
One of his most impressive characteristics is his conditioning. Payne also mentioned an unidentified NBA player who attempted Steph's drills only to give up several minutes in.
"We've had a player, who's still in the NBA, go through the first five minutes, sat down on the floor beside the door for about 30 seconds, stood up, went outside and threw up, and was done," Payne said. "It's a good player, too, not a bad player."
Some people have accused the trainer of capping. But it wouldn't be surprising if the anecdote were true, given how well-conditioned Steph has been in the past years.
Erik Spoelstra, coach of the Miami Heat that have become famous for their notorious conditioning test, raved about Curry's ability to continuously move around without getting tired.
Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. also recently shed light on the Warriors star's drills, which are designed to train him to shoot while as tired as possible.
Trae Young's range and handles have already been compared positively with Curry's. But can he eventually be mentioned in the same vein when it comes to conditioning and efficiency? Only time will tell.
