Atlanta Hawks star point guard Trae Young appeared on former Los Angeles Clipper JJ Redick’s podcast, The Old Man and the Three, on Friday, where the two sharpshooters bonded over their shared experiences with hostile crowds at away games. Redick, who became a legendary figure of Duke basketball, and Young, who played a one-and-done season with the Oklahoma Sooners in 2018, shared their stories of synchronized chants of “f*** you” from opposing fans at games.
“I got comfortable playing that role as a villain,” Redick said. “As a 19-year-old, it really f**ked with me. It really f**ked with me. I’d heard chants in high school, but it’s not the same thing when you’re doing a nationally televised game and everybody is like, ‘Oh, I f**king hate you.’”
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Young had similar experiences playing for the Sooners in enemy territory. “We played at Texas Tech. I was born in Lubbock, so my dad played there,” Young recalled.
“I’m going home, I’m thinking it’s gonna be crazy, it’s gonna be nice. Midway through the first half, you get one side of the whole arena is yelling, ‘F you,’ and the whole other side is yelling, ‘Trae Young.’ It’s like, did they set this up in harmony?”
Responding to Trae’s experience, Redick shared a story of his own from 2005, during his freshman season at an away game. Hokies fans stormed the court, some going as far as to taunt Redick’s family and prevent them from leaving the arena. Redick’s father got into a “public dispute” with Virginia Tech’s athletic director.
Young and Redick both said that the experience, while troubling, helped prepare them for their careers in the NBA. “There’s nothing you can say that I have not heard at this point,” Young said. “That’s how I feel. I’ve heard it all before.”