Trae Young fires back at Zohran Mamdani after NYC mayor called out Wizards star

Even now, with Young on the Wizards after his trade from Atlanta earlier this year, the association remains strong enough for him to use it as a warning shot.

Zohran Mamdani used Trae Young joke to make a broader ticket point

Mamdani’s original comment came while discussing the soaring cost of Knicks playoff tickets, where he joked that it is “always important to blame Trae Young” before turning to the bigger affordability issue.

From there, he argued that ticket prices had become too detached from ordinary fans, saying team owners should be doing more to make live sports accessible rather than allowing the experience to drift further into luxury territory.

That is where the tension in the story sits. Mamdani was using Young as a familiar Knicks punchline, but Young treated it as part of a rivalry that still has unfinished business in the city.

The backdrop only made the response sharper, because it also echoed 2021, when then-mayor Bill de Blasio called him out and Young responded by leading Atlanta past New York in the playoffs.

So while Mamdani’s comment began as a joke about ticket prices, Young turned it back into something else entirely: a reminder that New York has tried this angle before, and it did not end well.

Read more:

• New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani blames Trae Young for Knicks vs. Hawks’ expensive playoff tickets
• Trae Young got ejected from Washington Wizards game before ever playing for them
• Washington Wizards’ revamped projected lineup after Anthony Davis and Trae Young trades