Thaddeus Young

Thaddeus Young
Thaddeus Young
Born	June 21, 1988 (age 38); New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Occupation	Professional basketball player
Years active	2007–present
Known for	NBA player for multiple teams including Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Brooklyn Nets, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, Phoenix Suns

Thaddeus Charles Young Sr. (born June 21, 1988) is an American professional basketball athlete who most recently played for the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He competed at the collegiate level with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and was chosen 12th overall in the 2007 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Early life

Young entered the world in New Orleans, Louisiana, born to Lula Hall and Felton Young. During his fourth-grade year, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. His father, Felton, played collegiate basketball at Jacksonville University from 1976 to 1978 and was an eighth-round pick by the Buffalo Braves in the 1978 NBA draft.

High school career

Young started playing varsity basketball as early as eighth grade and attended Mitchell High School, where he quickly rose to prominence as a leading player. His accolades included three all-state honors, the 2005 TSSAA Class AA "Mr. Basketball" award, the 2006 Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year title, and selection to the prestigious McDonald's High School All-American Team. In 2006, he guided Mitchell to the TSSAA Class AA championship game. During his senior year, Young posted averages of 26.9 points, 13.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 4.3 steals, and 3.6 blocks per contest. Beyond basketball, he also excelled in cross country during his junior year and graduated with a GPA of 4.3. Upon completing high school, he was regarded as one of the top recruits in the class of 2006.

College career

Young joined Georgia Tech as the youngest member of their 2006 freshman group. Throughout his freshman campaign, he averaged 14.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game while shooting 47.8% from the field and an impressive 41.9% from beyond the arc.

Philadelphia 76ers (2007–2014)

Selected with the 12th overall pick by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2007 NBA draft, Young made his NBA debut on November 7, 2007, contributing 6 points and pulling down 3 rebounds during a victory over the Charlotte Bobcats. Early in his career, his playing time was limited until General Manager Ed Stefanski took charge; following the trade of Kyle Korver, Young saw increased minutes and alternated starting duties with Reggie Evans. In his rookie season (2007–08), he averaged 8.2 points and 4.2 rebounds across 74 games, including 22 starts.

Young earned a spot on the Sophomore team for the 2009 Rookie Challenge and delivered a clutch game-winning basket in Philadelphia’s first-round playoff matchup against the Orlando Magic that same year. On March 7, 2010, he recorded a personal best of 32 points in a triumph over the Toronto Raptors.

On February 21, 2014, Young achieved a career-high with 29 field goal attempts while posting totals of 30 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, and seven steals despite a loss to the Dallas Mavericks. He concluded the 2013–14 NBA season setting new personal records in scoring, steals, assists, made three-pointers, and games started; notably ranking third league-wide in steals.

Minnesota Timberwolves (2014–2015)

On August 23, 2014, Young was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of a three-team deal involving the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers. Alongside Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett moving to Minnesota, Kevin Love was sent to Cleveland while Philadelphia received Luc Mbah a Moute, Alexey Shved, and a first-round draft pick for 2015.

Brooklyn Nets (2015–2016)

On February 19, 2015, Young was exchanged to the Brooklyn Nets in return for Kevin Garnett. He chose to opt out of his contract on June 22, 2015, entering free agency, but subsequently re-signed with the Nets on July 9. On February 3, 2016, Young achieved a season-best performance by recording his 22nd double-double, contributing 16 points alongside 14 rebounds in a game against the Indiana Pacers.

Indiana Pacers (2016–2019)

Young was traded to the Indiana Pacers on July 7, 2016, in exchange for the draft rights to Caris LeVert. He posted season-high scoring games of 24 points on both November 23 and December 10, 2016; the latter included a personal record of six three-point shots during a victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. On November 1, 2017, Young scored a season-high 26 points facing the Cleveland Cavaliers.

On December 17, 2018, Young received Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors—his second time winning this award and his first since January 2014. He recorded a season-high of 27 points on January 17, 2019, despite a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Chicago Bulls (2019–2021)

Young joined the Chicago Bulls as a free agent on July 6, 2019. While his initial season was marked by shooting difficulties and moderate output, he showed notable advancement in his second year by enhancing his interior scoring, shooting efficiency, defensive contributions, and overall versatility. During that season, he secured a starting position and was honored with the NBA Hustle Award.

San Antonio Spurs (2021–2022)

On August 11, 2021, Young was traded alongside Al-Farouq Aminu and multiple draft selections to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for DeMar DeRozan.

Toronto Raptors (2022–2024)

Young was traded to the Toronto Raptors on February 10, 2022, together with Drew Eubanks and a second-round pick in the 2022 draft, in return for Goran Dragić and a first-round pick in the same draft year. On June 30, he agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $16 million with Toronto.

On February 8, 2024, Young was involved in a trade sending him and Dennis Schröder back to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie, but was waived by Brooklyn on the same day.

Phoenix Suns (2024)

Young signed with the Phoenix Suns on February 20, 2024.

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 74 || 22 || 21.0 || .539 || .316 || .738 || 4.2 || .8 || 1.0 || .1 || 8.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 75 || 71 || 34.4 || .495 || .341 || .735 || 5.0 || 1.1 || 1.3 || .3 || 15.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 67 || 45 || 32.0 || .470 || .348 || .691 || 5.2 || 1.4 || 1.2 || .2 || 13.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 82 || 1 || 26.0 || .541 || .273 || .707 || 5.3 || 1.0 || 1.1 || .3 || 12.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 63 || 1 || 27.9 || .507 || .250 || .771 || 5.2 || 1.2 || 1.0 || .7 || 12.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 76 || 76 || 34.6 || .531 || .125 || .574 || 7.5 || 1.6 || 1.8 || .7 ||14.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia |79||78||34.4||.454||.308||.712||6.0||2.3||2.1||.5||17.9 |- | rowspan=2 style="text-align:left;"|

| style="text-align:left;" | Minnesota
|48||48||33.4||.451||.292||.682||5.1||2.8||1.8||.4||14.3
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |  Brooklyn
|28||20||29.6||.495||.380||.606||5..9||1..4||1..4||..3||13..8
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |  Brooklyn
|73||73||33..0||..514||..233||..644|||9..0|||1..8|||1..5|||..5|||15..1
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |  Indiana
|74||74||30..2||..527|||..381|||..523|||6..1|||1..6|||1..5|||..4|||11..0
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |  Indiana
|81|||81|||32..2|||487|||320|||598|||6..3|||19|||17|||04|||11..8
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |  Indiana
|81|||81|||30..7|||527|||349|||644|||6..5|||25|||15|||04|||12..6
|-
| style="text-align:left;" |  Chicago
|64|||16|||24..9|||448|||356|||583|||4..9||||18||||14||||04||||10..3

|-

|style="text-align:left"|

style="text-align:left" 2020–21 Chicago Bulls season 68 23 24..3 559 267 628 6..2 4..3 11..121 |-

rowspan=2 style=text-align-left;

style=text-align-left;2021–22 San Antonio Spurs season 26 1 14..2 578 000 455 3..6 2..3 09 03 |- style=text-align-left;2021–22 Toronto Raptors season 26 0 18..3 465 395 481 4..4 17 |- style=text-align-left; style=text-align-left;2022–23 Toronto Raptors season 54 9 14..7 545 176 692 3..1 14 |- rowspan=2;style=text-align-left; style=text-align-left;2023–24 Toronto Raptors season 23;6;15..2;.621;167;417;3..3;2..2;.8;.1;5..0 |- style=text-align-left;2023–24 Phoenix Suns season 10;0;8..9;.524;.000;.333;2..8;.7;.5;.2;2..3 |- class=sortbottom style=text-align-center colspan=2 Career 1172;726;28..2;.503;.328;.661;5..6;1..8;1..4;.4;12..1

Playoffs

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2008 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 6 || 6 || 26.7 || .480 || .200 || .857 || 4.5 || .7 || 1.2 || .0 || 10.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2009 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 6 || 6 || 38.2 || .449 || .417 || .833 || 4.5 || 1.3 || 1.0 || .2 || 12.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2011 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 5 || 0 || 25.4 || .417 || .000 || .583 || 5.8 || .8 || .8 || .2 || 11.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2012 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia | 13 || 0 || 21.3 || .429 || || .710 || 5.2 || 1.2 || .5 || .5 || 7.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2015 | style="text-align:left;"| Brooklyn | 6 || 6 || 31.7 || .439 || .000 || .417 || 7.2 || 2.7 || .8 || .2 || 10.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2017 | style="text-align:left;"| Indiana | 4 || 4 || 35.0 || .538 || .250 || .500 || 9.0 || 2.5 || 2.0 || .3 || 12.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2018 | style="text-align:left;"| Indiana | 7 || 7 || 33.8 || .600 || .286 || .385 || 7.7 || 1.4 || 1.7 || .9||11.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2019 | style="text-align:left;"| Indiana | 4||4||32.6||.429||.250||.571||7.0||3.8||2.8||.8||10.5 |- | style="text-align:left;" | 2022

| style="text-align:left;" | Toronto
|6||0||14.5||.500||.143||.250||3.0||1.7||.8||.2||3.3

|-

|style="text-align:left;" | 2024
|style="text-align:left;" | Phoenix
|1||0||3.6||||||||0||0||0||0||0

|- class="sortbottom"

|style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career
|58||33||27.3||.468||.250||.606||5.7||1.6||1.1||.4||9.3

College

|-
|style="text-align:left;" |2006–07
|style="text-align:left;" |Georgia Tech
|31||31||29.6||.478||.419||.749||4.9||2.0||1.3||.4||14.4

Personal life

Young and his spouse, Shekinah Beckett, are parents to two sons named Thaddeus Jr. and Taylor.

In May of 2011, Young established Young for Youth, an organization dedicated to aiding vulnerable youth and their families.

The passing of Young's mother, Lula Hall, from breast cancer at age 57 in November 2014 deeply impacted his commitment to charitable work.

External links