Atlanta Hawks Announce Trae Young's Final Playing Status For Tonight's Game vs Charlotte

Is Trae Young playing tonight against the Charlotte Hornets?

Mar 18, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) brings the ball up court against the Charlotte Hornets during second quarter at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Hawks are on the road tonight against the Charlotte Hornets, and the biggest storyline ahead of this game is the status of Hawks point guard Trae Young. Young has not played in a game since Oct. 29th, but was upgraded to questionable last night. As game time inches closer, the Hawks have officially announced the status for Young in tonight's game. Young is available for the first time in nearly two months and I would think he will be in the starting lineup tonight against the Hornets.

An @emoryhealthcare injury report for tonight’s game at Charlotte:

Trae Young (right knee MCL sprain): Available

Kristaps Porzingis (illness): Out pic.twitter.com/nLGoN6IEzd

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) December 18, 2025

This is going to be the second matchup of the year between these two teams. The Hawks were able to win a close game at home last month, but the Hornets were without several of their key players. Now that they are a little healthier, Atlanta can't afford to overlook the Hornets tonight.

Looking at the Hawks

Dec 14, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Vit Krejci (27) dribbles the ball toward the basket against Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain (20) during the third quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images | Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

In the game preview for today's matchup, our own Rohan Raman took a deeper look at how the Hawks have been performing through 27 games:

"Atlanta's offense has been surprisingly solid without Trae Young and their most recent win over the 76ers improved their standing in many offensive metrics. The Hawks are 13th in points, 10th in FG%, 7th in 3P%, 17th in FT%, 24th in rebounds (24th in OREB, 20th in DREB), 1st in assists, and 18th in turnovers per game. They're 13th in offensive rating this year.

On a per-game basis, the Hawks' defense rank 20th in points allowed, 15th in FG% allowed, 10th in 3P% allowed, 24th in rebounds allowed, 5th in steals, and 11th in blocks. They're 15th in defensive rating on the year, which puts them in a barely above-average tier despite having two great two-way players in NAW and Dyson Daniels.

Charlotte's offense has struggled in spite of having three talented scorers in Knueppel, LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. They're 19th in points, 24th in FG%, 22nd in 3P%, 3rd in FT%, 15th in rebounds (14th in OREB, 11th in DREB), 18th in assists, and 23rd in turnovers per game. They're 17th in offensive rating this season.

The Hornets' defense also isn't likely to put up much resistance. Although they did hold the Cavaliers to zero points in overtime, that type of effort hasn't been common for Charlotte this year. They are 24th in points allowed, 27th in FG% allowed, 29th in 3P% allowed, 4th in rebounds allowed, 29th in steals, and 14th in blocks. They're 24th in defensive rating, which marks them as one of the worst defenses in the NBA."