Trae Young's Status Revealed For Tonight's Game vs the Suns

Hawks star point guard Trae Young was listed as questionable (illness) coming into tonight's game vs the Suns and his status was just revealed by the team. Young and Bogdan Bogdanovic are available to play tonight vs Phoenix.

Trae Young and Bogdan Bogdanovic are both available to play tonight. https://t.co/yEiYBhElVe
— Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) January 14, 2025

Our own Rohan Raman gave an in-depth preview for tonight's game.

"Coming into tonight's game, the Hawks are 7th in the NBA in PPG, 15th in FG%, 18th in 3PA, 19th in 3P%, 5th in FTA, 23rd in turnovers, and 10th in rebounding. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 15th in points per 100 possessions, 16th in effective field goal percentage, 19th in turnover percentage, 9th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 7th in free throw rate.

Currently, the Hawks rank 28th in PPG allowed, 25th in field goal percentage allowed, 29th in three-point attempts allowed and 30th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 21st in points allowed per 100 possessions and 28th in effective field goal percentage allowed.

The Suns are capable of getting into a shootout with almost anyone. They are 15th in the NBA in PPG, 9th in FG%, 14th in 3PA, 6th in 3P%, 11th in FTA, 10th in turnovers, and 25th in rebounding. Per Cleaning the Glass, Phoenix is 11th in points per 100 possessions, 10th in effective field goal percentage, 13th in turnover percentage, 27th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 9th in free throw rate.

Their defense is more middling. They are 19th in PPG allowed, 15th in field goal percentage allowed, 16th in three-point attempts allowed and 18th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Suns are 24th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 15th in effective field goal percentage allowed.

Since they are going to be down Jalen Johnson, the Hawks are going to be heavily reliant on a big game from one of their other wings. DeAndre Hunter has largely been excellent for the Hawks, but he struggled against Phoenix by only scoring 12 points on 3-9 shooting. Zaccharie Risacher's defense has been encouraging, but his offense is still a work-in-progress. Vit Krejci and David Roddy both had solid games with the increased opportunity. That will need to continue, especially if Young is going to be hampered by his illness.

More consistent three-point shooting from Atlanta would also be massive in this game. After shooting 67% from three in the first half, the Hawks shooting from deep fell flat in the second half, going 3-14 from beyond the arc. Conversely, the Suns continued to shoot well and both Bradley Beal and Grayson Allen came off the bench to help put the Hawks away. If the Hawks can maintain their shooting for most of the game and get a consistent game from their bench, it's going to be much harder for Phoenix to put them away.

One area where the Hawks have little excuse to dominate is on the boards. They've been one of the best teams on the glass all year and got out-worked by Mason Plumlee, Ryan Dunn and Bradley Beal. Those three alone had 24 of Phoenix's 42 rebounds while the Hawks only had 32 as a team. Capela had 10 rebounds, but it's going to take a team effort to reverse that trend tonight.

A possible X-factor for the Hawks could be the presence of Bogdan Bogdanovic. He's really struggled to stay healthy this year, but one of his hot shooting games could easily swing the game. In the last matchup, he had 17 points on 3-6 shooting from deep. Although he's only shooting 34.9% on the season, Bogdanovic has connected on 38.1% of his attempts from deep in his last 10 games. If he is starting to round back into form, this would be an excellent game for him to burn an exploitable Phoenix perimeter defense."

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