The Hawks won the championship last time in 1958, and it has been 67 years since then.

On June 11, in the long scroll of NBA history, the Atlanta Hawks' name always has a hint of classical tragic color. The team, founded in 1946, was led by legendary center Bob Pettit in 1958 and defeated the Boston Celtics 4-2 in the finals to win the only championship in team history. However, who would have thought that this heavy trophy would become an insurmountable peak for the Hawks in the next 67 years. When time comes 2025, Trae Young, a point guard who is only 1.85 meters tall but with giant ambition, is trying to use his gorgeous passes and long three-pointers to awaken the long-sleeping Southern Eagles.

Looking back at the Hawks' championship path, the glory of the 1957-58 season is more like a coincidence of an era. During that Celtic dynasty ruled by Bill Russell and Bob Cousy, Pettit forced his epic data to score 50 points and 19 rebounds in Game 6 of the Finals, stealing the O'Brien Cup from the Celtics. But fate is so good that the Celtics started their eight consecutive championships the following year, and the Hawks have never reached the threshold of the finals again. Even in the "Essence of Human Movies" Dominic Wilkins era, the team has never been able to break through the shackles of the Eastern Conference Finals. This championship drought that lasted more than half a century has made Atlanta one of the most famous "city of waiting" in the history of professional sports.

Trey Young's appearance was like a beam of light piercing through the haze. On the 2018 draft night, when the Hawks exchanged Doncic for the small Oklahoma man, doubts almost drowned out the Phillips Arena in Atlanta. But soon, this young man with a retro hairstyle proved his value with his actions: he stunned the league with 19.1 points and 8.1 assists per game in the rookie season, and the data soared to 29.6 points and 9.3 assists in the second year, becoming the first sophomore to average 29+9 per game in a single season after Oscar Robertson. His iconic "logo shot" not only redefines the offensive range of modern point guards, but also allows the Hawks to return to the playoff stage after four years.

The miracle journey of the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals has allowed the world to see the champion genes of Trae Young. In the first round, facing the Knicks, the scene of him bowing after making a final shot in Madison Square Garden became a classic; against the 76ers, he defeated Ben Simmons with averaging 29 points and 10.9 assists per game; facing the final champion Bucks, despite missing two games due to injury, he still left his masterpiece of 48 points and 11 assists in a single game. That summer, the Hawks management decisively built a lineup around him, and successively introduced powerful players such as Dezante Murray and Clint Capela to build a young team with balanced offense and defense.

However, the road to the peak is always full of thorns. In the 2023-24 season, when Trae Young was selected into the third team of the All-A-League with 28.4 points and 10.2 assists per game, the team ranked ninth in the Eastern Conference due to injuries. What's more serious is that modern basketball's strict defense requirements have always been the heel of this offensive genius - career defensive efficiency has been hovering downstream of the league for many years, and the height of 1.85 meters often becomes a breakthrough for opponents when changing defense. This is in sharp contrast to Pett's all-round offense and defense back then, and also reveals the dilemma of team building philosophy in the small ball era: when your core player has obvious shortcomings, how big can the winning window be opened?

From a tactical perspective, the Hawks' current lineup structure is quite meaningful. The arrival of Dezante Murray shared the organizational pressure of Trae Young, and his elite-level outside defense just made up for the shortcomings in the backcourt; John Collins' space-type four-position attributes opened up broad space for Young's breakthrough; Capela's ending under the basket and rebounding protection continues the Hawks' traditional genes that have attached importance to the inside since the Mutombo era. This "attack instead of defense" team building idea is similar to the five deaths created by the Warriors around Curry, but if you want to successfully copy it, you still need more extreme spatial support and more mature system operation.

Looking at NBA history, stories about breaking the long championship curse can always inspire people. In 2008, the Celtics ended their 22-year wait, in 2015, the Warriors ended their 40-year drought, and in 2016, the Cavaliers broke the 52-year spell to win the cup. The common law revealed by these cases is: it requires the chemical reaction between superstars and the perfect lineup, the precise operation of management, and the favor of some luck. For Trae Young, he is repeating the path that Nowitzki and Curry have taken - first win respect with their shocking personal performance, and then achieve the ultimate reputation through team honors.

Looking back in the summer of 2025, the Hawks have been 67 years since their last championship, and this time is the top five in all the four major sports leagues in North America. But it is interesting that the NBA's championship distribution in recent years is showing a trend of decentralization - the rise of non-traditional tycoons such as the Nuggets and Raptors proves that as long as the team building idea is clear, the small ball market can also create miracles. If Trae Yang wants to lead the Hawks back to the top of glory, he may need to develop offensive technology without dead ends like Jokic, continue to improve his defensive ability like Antetokounmpo, and even more need to wait for an opportunity to "create heroes in the times" like 2021.

The basketball world always needs the nourishment of heroic narratives. When Trae Young practiced a long three-pointer in the training hall, when he sent out those no-look passes that crossed the defense in the game, the Atlanta seemed to see the dawn of breaking the curse. The city has been waiting for too long, so long that even the championship flag of that year has begun to turn yellow. But the charm of competitive sports lies in that as long as the final whistle is not sounded, hope will always exist. Perhaps next season, and perhaps in the near future, we will eventually witness this little man wearing goggles leading his group of eagles to fly over the long river of 67 years and touch the golden dome of the basketball temple again.