NBA All-Star Trae Young seems to be unstoppable on the court. But something else besides his spectacular three-pointers has begun to catch his fans’ eyes. The player’s frontal and crown hair has become so thin you can see his scalp. This got sports influencers wondering: is Trae Young balding?
This article will tell you all about Trae Young’s hair loss journey and the existing evidence that the basketball star’s hair is falling out. Keep reading to get the latest scoop about:
Trae Young is a three-time NBA All-Star who plays basketball for the Atlanta Hawks. Born in Texas in 1998, Trae was first recruited out of college by the Dallas Mavericks, before transferring to the Atlanta team.
Trae has since become National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) scoring champion and NCAA assist leader. His career is still in the ascent: in 2024, he made NBA history for the greatest number of points, assists and three-pointers in a single game.
Yes, all media evidence points to the fact that Trae’s hair is falling out. Photos and videos of him taken in the past few years show a noticeable amount of progressive hair thinning around the frontal region and the crown, suggesting he’s affected by male pattern baldness.
In 2018, at the age of 20, Trae’s hairline was straight and he still had a full head of luxurious, curly hair. But the same cannot be said about him in 2025.
Trae Young has visible temple hair loss and seems to be developing a growing bald spot on his crown. Fortunately, his textured curls have always helped Trae conceal his hair thinning, as they can be styled to cover the balding areas to some extent. This may be the reason behind the athlete’s original hairdo, which the New York Times dedicated an entire article to:
“It’s thin yet full, short and long, wet but also dry, seemingly “young buck” despite seeming geriatric too, an optical illusion of barbering. There’s a fade, a part and bangs. It’s simply not a haircut. It’s a Michael Crichton novel” [1].
Trae Young has had the misfortune of losing his hair at a relatively young age, and at quite a rapid pace. However, his naturally textured hair helped him mask his alopecia rather well up until recently. Here is how his hair has changed over the years:
As a child, Trae started out with short, curly Afro hair and a moderately high natural hairline. By the time he reached adolescence, photos show his hairline to be very straight and youthful, with no signs of premature, teenage hair loss.
In 2018, as a rising basketball star aged 20, Trae still had full, luscious hair and a straight-edged frontal area. There were no signs of a receding hairline or any kind of hair thinning. During this time, he wore a regular short haircut, with just a bit of fade around the sides.
By the time he reached 21, there were some small, barely visible changes in Trae’s frontal area, which could easily be attributed to his hairline maturing. There seems to be a little thinning around the corners of the forehead, though not enough to suggest an uneven hairline. The basketball player’s curly hair may have disguised some light frontal recession.
Only 2 years later, as Trae turned 22 years of age, he started showing his first signs of hairline recession. His frontal area started to thin and even though he styled it to appear straight during interviews, in-game footage shows he was already developing an M-shaped hairline.
Photographs from 2020 press conferences also show clear thinning spots around his frontal hairline and through the mid-scalp. However, he had not yet developed a full-blown bald spot. By this year, it became apparent that the young NBA star was beginning to lose his hair to early-onset male pattern baldness.
Between 2021 and 2023, Trae Young’s hair shedding became more and more visible. While the athlete often styled his frontal hair into short bangs to mask this, the balding spot above his forehead was difficult to keep from the public eye. Around this time, Trae also started covering his head more often with a hood or a cap during interviews.
However, when his head was not covered, significant hair loss could also be seen on the NBA star’s crown.
By 2023, Trae seemed to put more energy into styling his hairline and perhaps using hair thickening spray or other similar cosmetics to make his frontal area appear straight and even. When looking directly into cameras, this provided the appearance of fuller, more youthful hair. However, the moment he tilted his head, his thinning crown was more conspicuous.
As the basketball star’s career progressed and he advanced in age, his features also became more masculine and his confidence seems to have also received a boost. At the end of 2024, Trae opted to grow out a fuller beard and stop concealing his receding hairline. A recent press conference revealed a more mature-looking young man, who seems unbothered by the more obvious bald spot on his crown.
A photo seemingly depicting Trae having gone bald with a beard circulated among sports influencers in November 2024, sparking rumours that the NBA star had cut his hair. However, the image, originally posted on an NBA parody account, does not appear to be real. Trae has made several public appearances since and there were no signs of a recent haircut, let alone a drastic one.
While only a trichologist can provide an accurate diagnosis for Trae’s balding, the tell-tale pattern of frontal recession followed by crown thinning points to male pattern baldness. This condition affects almost all men at some point in their lives. However, the NBA star appears to have a rather advanced form for his young age. He seems to be a Norwood stage 3, while most men affected by this condition only start to see the first signs of hair thinning and balding from their mid-20s to early 30s.
Also known as androgenetic alopecia, male pattern baldness occurs when your body produces too much of a male hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT), or your hair follicles are particularly sensitive to it [2X]. DHT attaches to androgen receptors in your hair follicles, making them shrink over time and produce smaller, finer hair. If left untreated, they stop producing hair altogether, leading to progressive baldness on your frontal area and crown. The hair follicles at the back and sides of your head are less sensitive to DHT so they are normally spared.
Only a cosmetic surgeon can determine whether Trae Young (or any other patient) would make a good candidate for a hair transplant. Matters such as the patient’s medical history, their current state of health and their scalp and hair condition can significantly influence their eligibility for this procedure.
For many young people like Trae, it’s best to start with non-surgical hair loss treatments like Minoxidil and/or Finasteride. These are most effective in the early stages of hair loss, and can often revitalise your follicles and stimulate renewed hair growth.
However, a hair transplant is often the best treatment for male pattern baldness [3X]. It is highly effective, with reputable clinics reporting success rates of over 97% for both FUE and FUT procedures. And most importantly, unlike other treatments, hair transplants are permanent.
Hair restoration surgery often performs very well when medications and therapies come short. That is because it involves harvesting healthy hair follicles from the back of your head and implanting them in your balding areas. The hair grafts attach securely in their new location and produce hair that does not become miniaturised over time.
Trae has visible hair loss around the temples and hairline, as well as significant thinning on the crown, consistent with Norwood stage 3. According to our hair graft calculator, he would probably need around 1500-2500 grafts. This should not be a problem, considering his donor area is quite well-covered, so there is little risk of hair transplant overharvesting.
Hair transplant costs can vary widely, depending on the clinic you choose, the type of procedure you opt for and the number of grafts you are getting. Since Trae lives in the U.S., he may opt to get his hair surgically restored in Los Angeles. The average LA hair transplant cost for the kind of procedure Trae might need is about $10,500 to $14,000 (£8,200 – 11,000).
However, as a prolific NBA All-Star, he may opt to get his hair surgically restored at a high-end clinic. In this case, he could pay upward of $15.000 for his procedure, especially if he requires optional additional services, such as PRP hair treatment alongside his hair restoration.
On average, UK surgical hair restoration prices are significantly lower than those in L.A. You can expect to pay around £3,000 to £7,000 for a 1500 graft hair transplant, depending on where you live. And you can rest assured that the best hair clinics in the UK have an almost perfect success rate and severe hair transplant side effects are almost unheard of.
Trae Young is one of many renowned athletes who are experiencing hair loss problems. And when faced with progressing male pattern baldness, many famous tennis, rugby or cricket players and footballers have opted for hair transplants. Some have been outspoken about it, while others have decided to keep their surgery private. Here are some of the stories of athletes who have decided to share their hair transplant journey with the world:
If, like Trae Young, you are experiencing progressive hair loss, don’t let your alopecia advance any further. Book a free, no-obligation consultation today with one of our hair transplant surgeons. They will provide a thorough examination of your scalp and hair and determine whether you could benefit from a natural-looking hair transplant.
If you are a good candidate for this procedure, they will patiently walk you through every step of the process, answer all of your questions and help set reasonable expectations for your results. Depending on the stage of your hair loss, hair restoration surgery may be your only chance at regrowing a full, luscious head of hair. Check out our before and after hair transplant gallery and see our results for yourself.
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