{"id":72383,"date":"2024-04-08T17:57:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T21:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=72383"},"modified":"2024-04-08T21:03:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T01:03:23","slug":"hawks-trae-young-takes-major-step-injury-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/08\/hawks-trae-young-takes-major-step-injury-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Injured Hawks All-Star Takes Major Step Forward Ahead of Play-In"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After missing the last 22 games <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/02\/25\/nba-news-all-star-guard-likely-out-for-a-month-due-to-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">with a torn pinky<\/a>, Atlanta Hawks point guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trae Young<\/a> has been cleared for contact and practice, the team announced. The Hawks have gone 12-10 in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/ask\/hawks-record-since-february-25\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">those six weeks<\/a>. However, the Young\u2019s been sorely missed, as Atlanta\u2019s offense is sputtering without him.<\/p>\n<h2>Injured Trae Young Takes Major Step Forward Ahead of Play-In<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">An <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/emoryhealthcare?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@emoryhealthcare<\/a> injury update:<\/p>\n<p>Trae Young, who sustained a left fifth finger torn ligament on Feb. 23, underwent surgery on Feb. 27.<\/p>\n<p>He had his six-week follow-up evaluation earlier today and has been cleared for team practice and contact. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EmmUrSkAx4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/EmmUrSkAx4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ATLHawks\/status\/1777437596404031555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In Young\u2019s absence, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murrade01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dejounte Murray<\/a> put on <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/14\/hawks-dejounte-murray-matches-insane-trae-young-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">his superhero cape<\/a>. Willing the Hawks to a handful of victories, Murray has averaged 24.6 points, 9.0 assists, and 1.7 steals per game while shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from 3-point range. In addition, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Johnson<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/huntede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">De\u2019Andre Hunter<\/a> have averaged 34.0 points per game combined.<\/p>\n<p>The Hawks have surprisingly been more efficient from deep, shooting 38.0 percent from 3 in the last 23 games (tied for sixth in the NBA). In the 55 games prior, Atlanta shot 36.1 percent from deep, 16th in the NBA. Yet, over the last 23 games, the Hawks have averaged 112.3 points per game (13th in the NBA). For comparison, up til that point in the season, Atlanta averaged 121.3 points per game (3rd in the NBA).<\/p>\n<p>Despite the play of Murray, Johnson, and Hunter, it\u2019s proving difficult to replace Young\u2019s production. He\u2019s an elite ball-handler with excellent court vision, excelling as a go-to scorer and playmaker. This season, he\u2019s averaging 26.4 points and 10.8 points per game.<\/p>\n<p>With four games remaining, Young could return before the regular season ends. Nonetheless, the Hawks have already clinched a postseason berth, refusing to go down without a fight despite Young being sidelined. As a result, Atlanta could wait until the Play-In Tournament to clear the three-time All-Star.<\/p>\n<p>When Young returns, he can easily assume the starting spot that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/krejcvi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vit Krejci<\/a> has been occupying. Krejci has been an adept two-way playmaker for the Hawks. However, he&#8217;s also signed to a two-way contract. Consequently, Krejci is ineligible to participate in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.<\/p>\n<h3>Who Moves to the Bench?<\/h3>\n<p>The big question is if the Hawks continue to roll with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogdabo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bogdan Bogdanovic<\/a> as a starter.<\/p>\n<p>Bogdanovic&#8217;s outside shooting and tertiary playmaking enhance the offense, but he&#8217;s an unreliable on-ball defender. The same can be said of both Young and Murray, resulting in Atlanta stacking three questionable perimeter defenders in the first unit. Hunter is arguably their best perimeter defender. However, he&#8217;s developed a taste for coming off the bench because he can attack more on offense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After missing the last 22 games with a torn pinky, Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young has been cleared for contact and practice, the team announced. The Hawks have gone 12-10 in those six weeks. However, the Young\u2019s been sorely missed, as Atlanta\u2019s offense is sputtering without him. Injured Trae Young Takes Major Step Forward [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":72386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1608,62,3],"tags":[4745,596,1349],"class_list":["post-72383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-nba-injuries","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-trae-young"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}