Fresh off an incredible 19-assist performance against the Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks superstar Trae Young is making headlines across the basketball landscape.
Those headlines, however, are related to the college game rather than what’s going on in the NBA.
On Monday, Young joined ESPN’s NBA Today to announce that he’s accepted a position as the Assistant General Manager for Oklahoma basketball and will also be donating $1 million to the Sooners’ NIL fund.
College athletics has changed dramatically over the last several years, and as NIL becomes more important, programs are being forced to look at any and all opportunities afforded to them. Young will now have to balance the responsibilities of positioning his franchise to make a run in the Eastern Conference playoff picture while also helping Oklahoma’s basketball program back to where it should be.
“I’m excited to announce that I’m accepting a role with OU basketball in being an assistant GM, as well as making a million dollar donation, to help kick start this whole thing,” Young said. “So it’s exciting to be a part of this, and being from Norman and playing there, obviously it’s exciting times. And I’m looking forward to being in this new role.”
Young is the second active NBA player to take on a role like this with his former college, as Steph Curry recently did the same thing for Davidson.
“I think, obviously, today the game has changed, and with NIL in college basketball, the way it’s changed, it’s, I think, a perfect time for guys to be more involved with the schools that made them who they were, or help just kind of push them to be who they were,” Young said. “I know, for someone like Steph and me, I mean, we represent our schools off the court and in the locker rooms and talk trash all the time. So now to be able to represent even more is going to be even it’s going to be more special.”
Oklahoma followed up the announcement with an official announcement of their own, including a word from athletic director, Joe Castiglione.
“Trae is a son of Norman, Oklahoma, and he’s given so much to our city and its people,” said Castiglione. “He has a strong affinity for this place and his commitment to ensuring our community is a thriving one is truly unmatched. He’s also an OU legend who, in his time here and since, continues to achieve excellence both on and off the court. With this appointment, we’re taking his commitment to Norman and to OU to the next level, dedicating our mutual support together to the success of our men’s basketball program. His mind is made for this game, and we’re incredibly fortunate he’s in our corner wanting to put his talents and innovative thinking toward strengthening our program. On top of that, his continued financial generosity buoys our efforts in ways few other schools can enjoy. Even as he’s thriving in the NBA, he never forgets his roots. We couldn’t be more appreciative of him as well as excited to work together in helping our program flourish in this new era of college athletics.”
Young was Oklahoma’s 11th first-team consensus All-American, and set a Big 12 record that still stands to the day with 27.4 points per gameYoung set program, conference, and NCAA records throughout his prolific season with the Sooners. Additionally, his 8.7 assists per game in 2017-18 is still a single-season record at OU, and his 22-assist performance against Northwestern State on Dec. 19, 2017, tied the NCAA record for most assists in a game.
Now in his seventh year with the Atlanta Hawks, Young was an NBA All-Star selection in 2020, 2022, 2024, and 2025, was named to the league’s all-rookie team in 2018-19, and earned All-NBA Third-Team honors in 2021-22 when he led the NBA with 2,155 points and 737 assists. He owns career averages of 25.3 points, 9.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.0 steal per game and is the Hawks’ all-time leader in 3-point field goals (1,253). He paced the league in assists in 2022-23 and is doing it again this season with 796 assists.
This past Thursday, Young became the youngest player in NBA history to record 12,000 career points and 4,500 assists.
