Hawks Update Playing Status Of Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker Ahead of Big Matchup With Lakers

If the Atlanta Hawks pull off a win tonight, it will be one of the most impressive wins they've had in the Quin Snyder era.

While both Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker were questionable heading into tonight's game, they have been officially ruled out for the Hawks. That leaves only 10 players avaliable for the Hawks tonight and Dyson Daniels as the clear starter at PG.

An @emoryhealthcare update:

Nickeil Alexander-Walker (low back strain): Out
Jalen Johnson (right quad contusion): Out https://t.co/zmTR0LJz9C
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 8, 2025

It'd also be reasonable to expect Mo Gueye to start in place of Johnson. He's had starts at PF before and he's been incredibly effective for the Hawks as a backup big. His defense will be much-needed against not only Rui Hachimura, but also possibly Luka Doncic considering that NAW will not be able to take defensive possessions on Doncic. However, there is no replacing the 20+ points per game, passing and elite rebounding Johnson brings. Make no mistake - the Hawks are going to need multiple statement games from their rotation in order to win this.

This is going to be a big test for the Hawks, but there are some reasons to be optimistic.

While the Lakers have been a great offense thus far, they do turn the ball over a lot. They're 21st in turnovers per game and 24th in TOV% as a team. Atlanta has been better at taking care of the ball (13th in TOV%) and great at turning opponents over (7th in opponent TOV%). They have one of the NBA's best perimeter defenders in Dyson Daniels available tonight, but Zaccharie Risacher also had a good defensive stint against the Raptors. He had two steals versus Toronto and it's possible that the Hawks could ride the turnover advantage into advantageous fast-break opportunities.

DeAndre Ayton has been a pleasant surprise for the Lakers, at least to start. The former No. 1 overall pick is averaging 17.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on 65.7% from the field as LA's starting center. He's also been a passable help-side defender - he was a notable part of holding Victor Wembanyama to 19 points and eight rebounds in the Lakers' matchup with the Spurs. He does also get blocks at a decent rate, currently holding an impressive 3.9% block percentage. However, he's still suspectible inside the paint. He's a terrible defensive rebounder (career-low 18.7% defensive rebounding percentage this year) and that could set Onyeka Okongwu up for a big game. He's averaging the best DREB% season of his career (24.1%) and has enough of a shot for Ayton to chase him on the perimeter. Gueye has also been a great defender this year and could silence Ayton's offense.

Luka Doncic is on a tear even by his own lofty standards and the Hawks don't really have anyone who can match his scoring pace. Doncic is averaging an incredible 40 points, 11 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 2 steals a game on 50/30/78.9 shooting splits. The fact that his three-ball actually hasn't been consistently going in is ludicrous to think about because he could very easily find it again and score even more. He's an offense unto himself - Dyson Daniels is going to have a difficult time stopping him tonight.

The Lakers are also great at getting paints inside the point and hitting midrange jumpers. Their 55.8 points in the paint rank 5th in the NBA and the Hawks have a mediocre ranking when it comes to stopping teams from scoring inside (17th leaguewide). They have a center advantage in their duo of Mo Gueye and Onyeka Okongwu. Both of them should feature heavily in this game as rim protectors to hopefully force some LA misses from inside.

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