Hawks' Trae Young on Luka Doncic Comparisons: 'It's Going to Go on Forever'

When the Atlanta Hawks traded forward Luka Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks for point guard Trae Young on 2018 NBA draft night, Doncic and Young took an unspoken vow to be compared for the rest of their NBA careers.

Young dished to Marc Stein of the New York Times on how he's embracing the comparisons to Doncic: "I know it's a part of my life now. I tell everybody that hopefully we're both 15-plus years down the line and we're still playing and it's a competition that's been going since draft night.

"I think it's going to go on forever, so might as well just accept it and take it on as a challenge."

The 20-year-old's comments came Friday night after he had posted a career-high 49 points in a quadruple-overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls. 

Doncic and Young comparisons are ramping up in relation to which should be named Rookie of the Year as the regular season draws to a close, but each is also drawing comparisons to some of the all-time greats.

For instance, Young's 49-point, 16-assist performance against the Bulls on March 1 made him the only rookie in the league's history to post at least 45 points and 15 assists in one game. He also joined LeBron James and Michael Jordan as the only rookies with 40-plus points and 10-plus assists in a single game, according to SportsCenter.

Meanwhile, Doncic is one of only two teenagers to record a triple-double. He became the youngest player to ever record multiple NBA triple-doubles when he accumulated three of them in just seven games, according to Ben Weinrib of Yahoo Sports.

While still at Oklahoma, Young was consistently compared to Golden State Warriors All-Star point guard Stephen Curry for his three-point shooting. Curry said those comparisons were "getting old" because Young is "his own player."

Curry is right. Doncic and Young are each his own player. However, so far, neither the Hawks nor Mavs can complain about the player they ended up with on June 21, 2018.