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Mayor Bill de Blasio lectures Trae Young on 'hunting for fouls,' says Knicks will teach him a lesson

Liz Roscher
·Staff writer
·3 min read

With one symbolic shush, Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young started living rent-free in the heads of New York Knicks fans everywhere.

How can you tell? New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made Young a talking point during his latest public briefing, donning a Knicks cap and lecturing Young about "hunting for fouls" and "playing the game the right way."

"A message to Trae Young on behalf of the people of New York City, and anyone who cares about actually playing basketball the right way, stop hunting for fouls, Trae. I want to quote Steve Nash one of the great players, great coaches. He says quote-unquote, that's not basketball. Trae, that Hawks not going to fly in New York City. Come on. Play the game the right way and see if you can win. I think the Knicks are going to teach you a lesson."

Young played a major role in squeezing the Knicks out of a Game 1 win on Sunday, hitting the game winner and shushing the unhappy crowd at Madison Square Garden, becoming an instant icon.

Politicians are supposed to be great at pandering, but it's hard to take de Blasio seriously about the Knicks teaching the Hawks a lesson when he showed up at a news conference last week wearing a Brooklyn Nets hat and jersey like he was going trick-or-treating after work.

It's also hard to take de Blasio seriously when he decides to quote Steve Nash. As a player, Nash was pretty good at drawing fouls. And as the current head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, Nash coaches James Harden, who is an excellent foul hunter.

De Blasio announcing Knicks vaccine partnership

As mayor, it's de Blasio's job to publicly support all the sports teams in his city, even though that earns him no points with his constituents (who already widely dislike him). But he may get a pass for one simple reason: he was announcing vaccine partnerships.

De Blasio announced last week that the Nets had partnered with the city to open a COVID-19 vaccination site outside the Barclays Center, and provide 100 free playoff tickets to fully vaccinated Nets fans. Even though he was dressed like he's in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch, he was entirely serious.

On Tuesday, de Blasio announced a partnership with the Knicks, who will be opening up Madison Square Garden as a vaccination site on four separate dates.

That's when de Blasio decided to put on the cap and lecture Young on his basketball conduct. At least this time he was only wearing a Knicks hat and not an entire uniform.

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