Instant Takeaways From The Atlanta Hawks Preseason Loss to the Memphis Grizzlies

The Atlanta Hawks were back on the court tonight in their first preseason game, and there were some ups and downs at State Farm Arena.

Coming into tonight, Atlanta was down CJ McCollum, Lu Dort, and Mouhamed Gueye in this game and Aaron Wiggins was injured and did not return in the second half

The starters did well to take early control of the game, but problems ensued when the reserves came in, especially on the defensive side.

1. Kingston Flemings gets the start

The Hawks were down CJ McCollum and Lu Dort tonight and that meant that rookie point guard Kingston Flemings was inserted into the starting lineup, instantly showing the level of trush that Flemings has been able to garner with the coaching staff.

It was an uneven performance for the No. 8 overall pick, as one might expect. He hit his first career shot attempt for three, and he finished with 11 points and two assists in nearly 25 minutes. He was the only starter who played in the second half for the Hawks.

When McCollum gets back, he is going to be back in the starting lineup of course, but tonight showed that Flemings is already going to be capable of coming off the bench and help lead the second unit.

2. Bench Defense Woes

Overall, the first quarter was a success for the Hawks when their starters were in together. It was not perfect, but the Hawks led 35-33 after the first quarter and in the first nine minutes of the quarter that the starters played, the defense only gave up 22 points. When the reserves came in, they gave up 28 points and it led to a disaster of a second quarter that was mostly played by the reserves.

The lineup of Flemings, Aaron Wiggins, Corey Kispert, Asa Newell, and Jock Landale was not a successful one and the Grizzlies outscored the Hawks 49-26 in the second quarter.

Is this a cause for concern? I don't think so, but the frontcourt is going to have to figure out some answers off the bench. I don't think that playing Kispert, Newell, and Landale together is going to be something that head coach Quin Snyder does often and tonight should be why.

Overall, I thought the starters looked solid in the minutes they played, but the bench (which was missing Dort) was a miss tonight.

3. Hawks deep bench players battled back

In the second half, the Hawks went to their bench, including their two-way contracts and exhibit 10 contracts and they found a way to battle back in the second half.

It won't get talked about often, but the Hawks have three talented two-way contract players. Jalen Wilson, who played over 1,000 minutes with the Brooklyn Nets over the past couple of seasons, finished with 12 points, RayJ Dennis had 12 points, and both Keshon Gilbert and Zuby Ejiofor played solid defense.

They also got 19 points out of Corey Kispert and 12 points and 12 rebounds from Asa Newell. Both players did the majority of their damage in the second half.

It can be hard to have any big takeaways from preseason games, but the Hawks, who were without CJ McCollum and Lu Dort, had their starters play well, the bench had some real defensive issues, and then the players who will likely spend a lot of time in College Park this season showed why the Hawks have a strong G-League team coming into 2026-2027.

Add us as a preferred source on Google