Trae Young’s new foul-drawing move has NBA coaches livid, but they need to get over it

This is a foul

Foul drawing is an essential skill in the NBA. It’s a necessity at this point. The best scorers in the league do it on a nightly basis to score as efficiently as possible.

We see it from the best of the best. James Harden, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo. They draw fouls like crazy every single night.

So it’s no wonder that Trae Young, as one of the best scorers in the league, does it, too. And he’s doing it better than anyone else so far this season.

Young is averaging league leading 12.1 free throw attempts per game this season. As effective as Young has become at getting to the line, though, he’s also become just as effective at frustrating head coaches around the league when doing it. His new foul baiting move has them so frustrated.

Young dribbles the ball downhill off of a screen and roll. The defender follows him down the lane and Young abruptly stops and shoots a floater. The defender never stops in time, they bump him and it’s a foul.

It looks something like this.

If referees are going to call that foul, it’s extremely hard to defend. He’s been catching dudes with this all season.

https://youtu.be/A7F2C2BIvqQ

There’s just not really much you can do. You have to chase over the top because Young is a shooter. You also can’t switch it and keep the big man in front of Young because the big slips and the lob threat is there.

It has coaches so frustrated. Tom Thibodeau gave the ref an earful after Young did this against the Knicks.

Steve Nash also railed against the play after the Hawks played his Nets. He said “that’s not basketball.”

Lots of people agree. They don’t believe it’s a foul

Here’s the thing, though — everyone needs to get over it. It is, in fact, a basketball play. And it is, indeed, a foul. The reason why Trae Young can draw this foul is because he is such an elite offensive player.

He has an answer for every strategy you could use to defend this. Want to go under the screen instead? Cool. He’ll pop a 30 foot 3-pointer with no hesitation. Want to switch it? He’ll go by your big man or pass to the post. Want to trap? Fine. He’ll pass out of it. And if you hang on his hip, clearly, he’ll draw a foul on you.

It’s a tough position for the defense to be in. Yes, it’s annoying. But he’s actually shooting the ball and is getting bumped. By letter of the law, that is a foul.

Just defend it. It’s not impossible. We see defenders do this consistently, as NBA aficionado Mike Prada points out. There’s just a certain pacing to it.

So, yeah. Stop complaining about this foul. Just defend it better.