What a shame! Two of the best players in the past, one is in the running for MVP, and the other is injured and missing but the team has a winning streak!

Looking at it now, although the 2018 rookies have not yet achieved too dazzling achievements, their overall quality is very good and they are definitely worthy of the title of Big Year. As for the standouts of this rookie class, they are undoubtedly Luka Doncic and Trae Young. As early as their rookie season, the two performed amazingly for the Mavericks and Hawks respectively, and then led the teams to the Eastern and Western Conference finals respectively. Doncic even reached the finals, which really gave people hope. But now in the eighth year of their respective careers, the situation has ushered in a huge change.

In fact, after the 20-21 season, the gap between the two became wider and wider. Doncic went from losing in the first round of the Western Conference to a top ball-handling core, leading the Mavericks to the Western Conference finals twice, and also entered the finals in the 23-24 season. Trae Young has been lingering in the first round of the Eastern Conference, and even entering the playoffs has become a luxury. And this season, the performance between the two of you is even more different. Let us take a look at what happened in these years that caused the gap between the two to become wider and wider!

became the flagship figure of the Mavericks, and his status remains the same when he comes to the Lakers.

First of all, let’s talk about Doncic. Although he has yet to win a championship and has no regular season MVP, Doncic has maintained a very stable state since entering the NBA. From the beginning of the second season, he has become one of the popular MVP candidates. In the 21-22 season, he averaged 28.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game. In the playoffs, he even defeated the league's No. 1 Suns team, which had 64 wins and 18 losses in the playoffs, and successfully reached the Western Conference finals, equaling Trae Young's best record. He even averaged 31.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game throughout the playoffs. His performance has completely surpassed Young's.

What is even more remarkable is that in the 23-24 season, after missing the playoffs last season, he scored 33.9 points, 9.2 rebounds and 9.8 assists. While winning the scoring title for the first time in his career, he helped the Mavericks reach the finals again after 13 years.

Although he was traded to the Lakers by the Mavericks last season, he is still a super core at least in the top three levels of the entire NBA. After joining the team, he can still output 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists stably, and has been regarded by the Lakers as the future first core to succeed LeBron James. It is precisely because of Doncic's arrival that the Lakers reversed their decline and ranked third in the Western Conference last season.

In this season, James was absent due to injury. Doncic withstood the pressure and averaged a crazy output of 34.4 points, 8.9 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game, leading the Lakers to a perfect record of 10 wins and 4 losses, and has been ranked among the top four in the Western Conference. And with James coming back soon, the team's strength will be even higher. It is precisely because of this that Doncic has been regarded as the best contender for MVP this season. In addition, he has completed a three-year contract extension of US$165 million with the Lakers. Doncic is likely to complete his personal evolution again in these three years. His first MVP, championship and other honors may be obtained at this stage, thus becoming the leader of the new generation.

The team won without the team and Yang was in an embarrassing situation!

Let’s talk about Trae Young. Generally speaking, Young’s achievements in the third year of his career are higher than Doncic’s. In the 20-21 season, despite facing huge doubts, he averaged 28.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game in the playoffs, leading the Hawks to defeat the Knicks and 76ers respectively, and finally entered the Eastern Conference finals.

Especially in the first round of the game, he took turns fighting with Knicks fans, and had a big war of words with Spike Lee, the die-hard representative fan of the Knicks. He became the number one public enemy in New York since Reggie Miller, attracting a large number of fans. At that time, many people believed that Young would definitely be able to take over from Stephen Curry as the league's first three-point champion in the future and help the Hawks complete a true revival. But after that time, Yang was never able to perform such a phenomenal performance again.

In the four seasons from the 21-22 season to the 24-25 season, although with his help, the Hawks have always been able to rank among the top ten in the Eastern Conference and have entered the playoffs twice, they are familiar with Young's offensive rhythm and his defensive ability has always been fatal. Therefore, the Hawks have never been able to break through the first round of the Eastern Conference, and have missed the playoffs in the past two seasons.

In this season, the 27-year-old Young encountered a very embarrassing situation, that is, after playing only 5 games due to injury, in the games he missed, the Eagles rose to the challenge and achieved a record of 8 wins and 2 losses. The team is currently ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference. Jaylen Johnson is averaging a lot of goals per game this season. With 21.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 6.3 assists, there is a vague feeling of replacing Yang as the new boss of the team. Especially in the 5 games that Yang played, he only averaged 17.8 points, 2 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game, and his three-point shooting rate was only 19.2%. It is indeed difficult for people to recognize him.

From the two unparalleled prides back then to the current situation of one in the sky and one on the ground, it is indeed extremely embarrassing. Even if Young is still unable to perform convincingly after his return, he is likely to be used as a bargaining chip for reinforcements and leave the Eagles, where he has played for many years.