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Hawks' Trae Young and John Collins supply plenty of highlights at the Drew League

Gilbert McGregor

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Hawks' Trae Young and John Collins supply plenty of highlights at the Drew League image

Trae Young is certainly a man of his word.

After LeBron James made an appearance at LA's Drew League, Young let the Twitter world know that he'd be "jumping in a game soon." No less than one week later, he did just that.

MORE: Which NBA players should take on the Drew League next?

In what would be his second-ever appearance at The Drew, Young joined Black Pearl Elite alongside highflying Hawks teammate John Collins, who would make his debut at LA's premier summer pro-am league.

Young and Collins have made plenty of highlights on the NBA stage and as you could imagine, they didn't waste much time providing highlights at The Drew.

From lobs to deep 3s and tough finishes, they did a little bit of everything. Here are some of the best highlights from their appearance.

MORE: The important lesson Trae Young can learn from Steph Curry

Off the glass

How could we not start with a lob? In transition, Young tossed it off the glass for a trailing Collins, whose finish garnered a nice reaction from the crowd.

Ice Trae commands the crowd

Young is a showman that knows how to command a crowd. Whether it's switching hands on a finish around the rim…

Freezing the defense with a hesitation move…

Or pulling up from deep before the defense gets set…

Young's game is tailored to keep the crowd hyped, especially in a packed gym like this one. He also debuted a new colorway of his signature sneaker while he was at it.

Behind the scenes

Before the duo even took the floor, they let it be known that their intentions were to put on a show for those in attendance, a crowd that included Grammy Award-winning artist Lil Wayne.

Go behind the scenes with the duo.

In exhibition play, wins and losses are largely inconsequential, but Young and Collins' BPE squad came up short, suffering a 103-100 loss at the hands of the Citi Team Blazers.

Taking a look at the bigger picture, it's a positive sign that these two members of the Hawks core took the floor together this summer, especially after the number of rumors that have swirled around Collins' future in Atlanta.

This offseason, the Hawks motioned to acquire Dejounte Murray and drafted AJ Griffin, bolstering the roster of a team that finished eighth in the East last season.  Exciting as the new pieces are, Young and Collins are the longest-tenured members of the team, meaning their camaraderie and chemistry will go a long way when the team convenes for training camp in September.

You can bet that the highlights will continue, too.

Gilbert McGregor

Gilbert McGregor Photo

Gilbert McGregor first joined The Sporting News in 2018 as a content producer for Global editions of NBA.com. Before covering the game, McGregor played basketball collegiately at Wake Forest, graduating with a Communication degree in 2016. McGregor began covering the NBA during the 2017-18 season and has been on hand for a number of league events.