Trae Young Returns To The Starting Lineup For Tonight's Matchup Between Atlanta and Charlotte

Who are the starters for tonight's game between the Hornets and the Hawks?

Oct 27, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) brings the ball up court against the Chicago Bulls during the second half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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.

The game is getting close to tipoff time and both teams have announced their starting lineups for tonight:

Hawks

G- Trae Young

G- Dyson Daniels

F- Zaccharie Risacher

F- Jalen Johnson

C- Onyeka Okongwu

Hornets

G- LaMelo Ball

G- Kon Knueppel

F- Brandon Miller

F- Miles Bridges

C-Ryan Kalkbrenner

Looking at the Hawks

Dec 12, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels (5) drives to the basket against the Detroit Pistons in the third quarter at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images | Lon Horwedel-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."

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