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Atlanta Hawks vs Minnesota Timberwolves: Injury Report For Tomorrow's Game

Can Atlanta snap their losing streak when they go on the road and face the Timberwolves tomorrow?
Jan 3, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder watches game action against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
Jan 3, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder watches game action against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Hawks are currently on a four-game losing streak and have a lot of tough road games coming up, starting with tomorrow night in Minnesota against the Timberwolves. Ahead of that game tomorrow, the Hawks have released their injury report.

De’Andre Hunter (illness), Larry Nance Jr. (right hand surgery; injury management), Zaccharie Risacher (left adductor strain), and Trae Young (right hamstring tightness) are all questionable for tomorrow's game. Jalen Johnson is out.

Update (7:00 p.m. ET): After initially being ruled questionable for tomorrow's game vs the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Atlanta Hawks have now ruled start point guard Trae Young out due to right hamstring tightness.

Last night's loss was their second loss just this week to Toronto and while the Raptors have been playing better recently, they have been one of the NBA's worst teams all season. They are now 2-1 vs the Hawks this season.

Now, it is hard to discuss this game without mentioning the injuries that Atlanta had. They were missing Jalen Johnson, De'Andre Hunter, and Zaccharie Risacher. That is two of their top three scorers and one of their more effective defenders. Not only that, but it was the first game in nearly a month for Larry Nance Jr (hand surgery), who started this game due to all of the injuries on the wing. Nance still looked like his injury might be bothering him and he shot 2-10 from the field and had four points. Atlanta does not play all of Nance, Capela, and Okongwu in the same game often, but had to tonight out of necessity and it did not go well.

It is not Nance's fault though. The entire Hawks offense was completely absent from this game and there was plenty of poor play to go around. Trae Young had one of his worst games of the season tonight, finishing with 16 points, four assists, and 11 turnovers. This was the second straight poor performance for Young and the timing could not be worse. Until there is clarity on Jalen Johnson's injury, Young is going to have a heavy workload on his shoulders and Atlanta will need more from him.

Atlanta did get two solid performances from Vit Krejci and Onyeka Okongwu. Krejci had 20 points and shot 6-11 from three tonight, as well as getting seven assists and three steals. Okongwu had 19 points, eight rebounds, and five assists.

Atlanta's bench was brutal last night. They were outscored 47-22 by the Raptors bench (with most of that coming from Chris Boucher) and there was a lot of bad shooting. Bogdan Bogdanovic was 2-12, Garrison Matthews was 1-5. Matthews and Bogdanovic (especially Bogdanovic) are relied upon heavily for scoring off the bench and both have been struggling lately. Atlanta shot 39% from the floor and 30% from three and had 22 turnovers in the game. It was arguably their worst offensive performance of the season.

The Raptors got very good performances from Scottie Barnes (24 points), RJ Barrett (23 points) , and Chris Boucher (23 points) tonight. The Raptors shot 47% from the field and 37% from three. It was not a standout performance from the Raptors offense, but they did more than enough to beat the Hawks.

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Jackson Caudell
JACKSON CAUDELL

Jackson Caudell has been covering Georgia Tech Athletics For On SI since March 2022 and the Atlanta Hawks for On SI since October 2023. Jackson is also the co-host of the Bleav in Georgia Tech podcast and he loves to bring thoughtful analysis and comprehensive coverage to everything that he does. Find him on X @jacksoncaudell

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