Trae Young has been known for his shooting range since he first burst onto the scene at Oklahoma ahead of the 2018 NBA Draft. While Young hasn’t quite lived up to the Steph Curry comps he was getting in college, he has established himself one of the league’s best facilitators while also being able to pop off for 20+ points basically every game. Young’s three-ball is actually what has held him back a little bit to this point: he’s only a career 35.3 percent shooter, but he’s done it on one of the NBA’s toughest shot diets.
Young hit one of the toughest shots of his life on Tuesday night to beat the Utah Jazz at the buzzer, give Atlanta a key win in the Eastern Conference playoff race, and put his name near the top of the list of the longest buzzer-beaters in NBA history.
The Jazz had just tied the Hawks with under three seconds to play when Collin Sexton recovered a deflected pass by Dyson Daniels and ripped a three-pointer. The game seemed destined for overtime … until Young ripped a halfcourt shot for the win. Watch it here:
This angle is even better:
What an amazing shot by Young. It goes down in the box score as a 50-foot three-pointer, and that makes it one of the longest buzzer-beaters the league has ever seen.
NBA fans might remember Max Strus’ 59-foot buzzer-beater for the Cavs last season. Strus’ shot was the second-longest buzzer-beater ever, behind Devonte’ Graham’s 61-foot buzzer-beater back in 2021. I wrote about how Graham’s shot compared to the longest buzzer-beaters in ever at the time, and now Young’s name joins the list.
Young’s shot is reportedly the seventh-longest game-winning buzzer-beater ever. The NBA has a compilation of the the other shots on the list, and they keep getting longer:
Seeds No. 4 through No. 9 are separated by just two games in the loss column in the Eastern Conference with the calendar flipped to 2025. The Atlanta Hawks are one of those teams. Atlanta wants to avoid another trip to the play-in tournament, and that means finishing in the top-6 of the conference. If they can pull it off come playoff time, we’ll remember Young’s shot.
