BREAKING: Atlanta Hawks Provide Detailed Update on Trae Young’s Injury

Young will get another evaluation in four weeks.
There was some heartbreaking injury news recently for the Atlanta Hawks.

After suffering a hand injury during Friday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors, star point guard Trae Young will have surgery to repair his radial collateral ligament (RCL). He will next be assessed in four weeks.

The official Atlanta injury report is as follows:
“Guard Trae Young sustained a left-hand injury during Friday’s game against Toronto. He had an MRI yesterday at the Emory Sports Medicine Complex, and the results showed that his left hand’s fifth finger had a radial collateral ligament (RCL) injury. He will be reassessed in four weeks following his operation to repair the RCL on Tuesday at the Hospital for Special operation (HSS) in New York.”
The Hawks’ worst news is this. Atlanta is battling to stay in the play-tournament and is presently ranked tenth in the Eastern Conference. The team’s journey ahead will be steep given the absence of its standout offensive player and point guard. Although they have Dejounte Murray, the Hawks will miss having Young on the floor.

The Hawks will play Orlando today in the second night of a back-to-back, with the goal of snapping their three-game losing run.

On paper, this should be a clash between two of the top offenses and defenses in the league. That is somewhat diminished by Young’s absence for this game, but Atlanta still has Bogdan Bogdanovic, Jalen Johnson, and Dejounte Murray. With Young out, any of those guys might have a big game, and they will have to.

With 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists, Murray almost achieved a triple-double in one of his greatest games of the year. Even though he will be the team’s main offensive weapon tonight, the Hawks will need the other players to play excellent supporting roles.

Bogdanovic shot 3-11 from three and 5-17 from the floor against the Raptors in the most recent game. He will probably start tonight against the Magic and log significant playing time.

Despite being able to return from his injury from the previous game, Clint Capela was only able to play 19 minutes. I would anticipate something similar if Capela is unable to play more minutes tonight, as Bruno Fernando and Jalen Johnson did in the backup center role.

Since recovering from his injuries, De’Andre Hunter has been a tremendous player for the Hawks, mostly playing off the bench. Hunter took a little while to get going against the Raptors, but in the second half, he really picked it up. Using 8–17 shooting and 2–7 three-point shooting, he finished with 22 points. He went 6–10 from the field in the second half, accounting for 15 of his 22 points. It could be wise to keep pulling him off the bench as long as he is performing this well.

Atlanta is ranked fourth in points per game going into this game, first in offensive rebounding, fifth in free throw attempts, 23rd in field goal %, sixth in three-point attempts, and 14th in turnovers. The Hawks rank ninth in terms of points per 100 possessions, eighth in terms of turnover %, fourth in terms of offensive rebounding percentage, ninth in terms of free throw rate, and eighteenth in terms of effective field goal percentage.

One of the finest defenses in the NBA, Orlando will pose a challenge to the Hawks. Sixth in points per game, 19th in field goal percentage allowed, 10th in three-point percentage allowed, and sixth in defensive rebounding are the Magic’s standings. The Magic are 16th in terms of effective field goal % and sixth in terms of points allowed per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass.