BREAKING: Atlanta Hawks Give Massive Trae Young Injury Update
The Atlanta Hawks just received some devastating injury news.
Superstar point guard Trae Young injured his hand in Friday's loss to the Toronto Raptors and is now going to undergo surgery to repair the radial collateral ligament (RCL) and he will be re-evaluated in four weeks.
Here is the official injury update from Atlanta:
"During Friday’s game vs. Toronto, guard Trae Young suffered a left-hand injury. He underwent an MRI yesterday at the Emory Sports Medicine Complex, which revealed a tear of the radial collateral ligament (RCL) in the fifth finger of his left hand. He will undergo surgery to repair the RCL on Tuesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York and will be re-evaluated in four weeks."
This is the worst news for the Hawks. Atlanta is currently in 10th place in the Eastern Conference and fighting to stay in the play-tournament. It is now going to be a big uphill battle for the team without their star point guard and offensive leader. The Hawks do have Dejounte Murray, but they will miss Young's presence on the court.
The Hawks are going to be trying to end their three-game losing streak tonight vs Orlando, who is on the second night of a back-to-back.
On paper, this would be a matchup of one of the league's best offenses vs one of the league's best defenses. Young being out for this game puts a dent in that a little bit, but Atlanta still has Dejounte Murray, Jalen Johnson, and Bogdan Bogdanovic. Any of those guys could have a big game and they are going to have to with Young out.
Murray is coming off one of his best games of the season, nearly notching a triple-double with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists. He will be leading the offense tonight, but the Hawks are going to need a strong supporting game from the others around him.
Bogdanovic was 5-17 from the field and 3-11 from three in the last game vs the Raptors. He is likely going to get the start tonight vs the Magic and play big minutes.
Clint Capela was able to come back from his injury last game but was only able to play 19 minutes. Bruno Fernando and Jalen Johnson shared the backup center minutes and if Capela is not able to play more minutes tonight, I would expect to see something similar.
De'Andre Hunter has been coming off the bench for the Hawks since coming back from his injury and he has been playing fantastic. After a bit of a slow start against the Raptors, Hunter really got going in the second half. He finished with 22 points on 8-17 shooting and 2-7 from three. 15 of his 22 points came in the second half and he shot 6-10 from the field. As long as he is playing this well, it might be the smart move to keep bringing him off the bench.
Hawks guard Trae Young vs the Bulls
Atlanta comes into this game 4th in PPG, 23rd in field goal percentage, 6th in three-point attempts, 22nd in three-point percentage, 5th in free throw attempts, 1st in offensive rebounding, and 14th in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Hawks are 9th in points per 100 possessions, 18th in effective field goal percentage, 8th in turnover percentage, 4th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 9th in free throw rate.
Orlando is one of the NBA's best defenses and they are going to make life difficult for the Hawks. The Magic are 6th in PPG, 19th in field goal percentage allowed, 10th in three-point percentage allowed, and 6th in defensive rebounding. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Magic are 6th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 16th in effective field goal percentage.
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