{"id":72864,"date":"2024-04-11T17:35:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T21:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=72864"},"modified":"2024-04-11T17:35:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T21:35:07","slug":"hawks-defensive-duo-jalen-johnson-onyeka-okongwu-injury-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/11\/hawks-defensive-duo-jalen-johnson-onyeka-okongwu-injury-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawks Defensive Duo Receives Disheartening Injury Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Hawks may have lost two of their best defenders for the remainder of the season, as the team has announced that <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\/o\/okongon01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Onyeka Okongwu<\/a> would be out for multiple weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The Hawks\u2019 final regular season game takes place on Apr. 14 against the Indiana Pacers. With the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/standings\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2024 NBA Playoffs<\/a> beginning on Apr. 20, Atlanta has to defeat the Chicago Bulls in the Play-In Tournament to have any chance at either player returning before the end of their 2023-24 campaign.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">If the Hawks defeat the Bulls in the Play-In, then Johnson could be available sometime in the First Round, I believe. But unless they advance to the Semifinals or further, I doubt Okongwu will suit up<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 qshironalbertie (@qshironalberti3) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/qshironalberti3\/status\/1778457973288837499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Hawks Duo Receives Injury Updates<\/h2>\n<h3>Jalen Johnson<\/h3>\n<p>Johnson left Tuesday\u2019s game again the Miami Heat with a right ankle sprain. On Wednesday, the third-year forward took an MRI in Atlanta. Diagnosed with a Grade 2 lateral ankle sprain, Johnson will be re-evaluated in approximately three weeks.<\/p>\n<p>This season, he\u2019s averaged 16.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game. Because of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/17\/hawks-mini-lebron-jalen-johnson-mindset-stellar-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">his multifaceted impact<\/a>, Johnson has enhanced Atlanta\u2019s play at both ends of the floor. Indeed, his combination of athleticism and skill may be the best on the team.<\/p>\n<p>Without Johnson, guarding the East\u2019s top wings and forwards got that much harder. To that point, the bulk of the East\u2019s premier talent plays at those positions. In the Play-In, he would have the perfect size to help slow down <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/derozde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeMar DeRozan<\/a>. If the Hawks advance to the First Round, they\u2019ll face <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tatumja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jayson Tatum<\/a> and the Boston Celtics.<\/p>\n<p>The season-ending injury sustained by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/beysa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Saddiq Bey<\/a> is also worth noting due to his strength, hustle, defensive technique. With him and Johnson out, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/huntede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">De\u2019Andre Hunter<\/a> is Atlanta\u2019s only healthy and reputable wing defender.<\/p>\n<h3>Onyeka Okongwu<\/h3>\n<p>Okongwu underwent a non-surgical procedure on Tuesday in California to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/07\/hawks-trio-receive-promising-injury-updates\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">address ongoing inflammation<\/a> in his left big toe. He\u2019ll be re-evaluated in approximately four weeks. The 2020 No. 6 pick, Okongwu has only played two games since Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n<p>At a listed 6-foot-8 and 235 pounds, Okongwu is an undersized center but is springy with fluid athleticism. As a result, he\u2019s not just a solid pick-and-roll weapon on offense. He\u2019s also a relatively versatile defender capable of guarding out in space or altering shots around the rim.<\/p>\n<p>With his absence, the Hawks are a more limited in their defensive coverages. Veteran center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/capelca01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clint Capela<\/a> is a noteworthy interior defender. However, he\u2019s not trusted to guard out in space.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019ll be worth monitoring Hawks rookie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gueyemo02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mouhamed Gueye<\/a> for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Playing substantial minutes for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/11\/hawks-trae-young-mouhamed-gueye-notch-career-firsts-return-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">first time in his NBA career<\/a> on Wednesday, if he can build off his performance, he may earn a bit of trust heading into the postseason. A 6-foot-11 big man with guard skills and terrific defensive instincts, Gueye has the highest chance of mirroring Okongwu\u2019s play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Hawks may have lost two of their best defenders for the remainder of the season, as the team has announced that Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu would be out for multiple weeks. The Hawks\u2019 final regular season game takes place on Apr. 14 against the Indiana Pacers. With the 2024 NBA Playoffs beginning [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":72863,"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":[4,62,3],"tags":[3853,49104,4745,596,832,2830],"class_list":["post-72864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-nba","category-news","tag-jalen-johnson","tag-mouhamed-gueye","tag-nba-injuries","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-onyeka-okongwu"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72864","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=72864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}