Hawks' McMillan denies telling Young not to show up vs. Nuggets

Atlanta Hawks head coach Nate McMillan denied telling Trae Young to stay home if the guard refused to come off the bench for last Friday's contest against the Denver Nuggets.

"There was something said about me telling Trae to not show up for a game. I will never ever and have never ever told a player not to show up for a game," McMillan told reporters prior to Monday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"OK, that's just false. All right. So I wanted to make a comment on that. As I told the players, we're moving forward, we need to get ready for OKC tonight."

McMillan reportedly gave Young the option to stay home as he was displeased with the All-Star guard's decision to skip the team's shootaround in favor of receiving treatment for his right shoulder.

Young was officially a late scratch for Friday's game due to shoulder soreness.

The Atlanta bench boss said he met with Young and his players to discuss the reported internal tension.

Young downplayed the apparent exchange with McMillan earlier Monday.

"It's hard for people who don't know the full situation to understand it," Young said, per Zach Klein of WCB - Channel 2 Atlanta. "Like I said, it's a private matter made public, which was unfortunate. If it stayed private, it probably wouldn't have been as big of a deal.

"My job and my goal is to win a championship, and that's all I'm focused on. ... Inside here we're all good. If you've got any more questions about that, then you can talk to somebody else about it. That's all I've got to say about it."

Young returned to the starting lineup for Monday's matchup.