The Atlanta Hawks have been struggling in recent weeks. The team is dealing with injuries and poor fourth-quarter performances, which is reflected in their disappointing quarter-season record of 13-10.
Now to make matters worse, the star of the team is reportedly feuding with the head coach according to reports from Shams Charania of The Athletic.
A lot has been said about Trae Young's outburst with Nate McMillan during Friday's shoot-around ahead of their matchup with the Denver Nuggets -- a game he subsequently didn't show up for.
After this report surfaced, Trae Young was subjected to a lot of criticism, both fair and unfair. One of the comments came from former Atlanta Hawks big man, Chandler Parsons.
Parsons joined the Run It Back podcast on Monday to discuss his former teammate's conflict with McMillan.
He started with the explanation that nobody really likes shoot-around and that it's become pretty pointless since not much is actually happening on the court. That said, he still believes Trae is in the wrong for how he acted.
"Trae, he can't do this," Parsons explained. "He's my guy, [but] they've invested way too much in him, they've given him the keys from the rip. This is his fifth season. You can't do this, you can't let your teammates down. You've got to be bigger than this in the moment."
McMillan is not without sin in this matter, at least according to Parsons.
He explained: "I also don't like the idea of McMillan saying like you can come off the bench or don't show up to the arena. Giving your star player an ultimatum is probably not the best idea, either."
Parsons was a well-respect member of the Atlanta Hawks bench in 2019 and was there the last time Young had a not-so-private disagreement with then-head coach Lloyd Pierce. But he believes that the star player has come too far to act in this manner and needs to be bigger in these moments.
"Trae’s got to mature a little bit," Parsons continued. "He's already been through issues and got Lloyd Pierce pretty much fired. This is now the next coach who's way cooler than Lloyd Pierce and a great guy and a good coach. I think he's got to be bigger in this situation. Shoot-arounds suck, they're annoying, but you're the star player and everyone's going. Everyone's got to go. But I see where he's coming from though like you're not going to give a player, a star player, an ultimatum like that, and the fact that he just didn't show up to the arena, I mean respect, but not the best."