While Young gets traded, Hawks down Pelicans

The Hawks snapped their two-game losing skid amid franchise-altering news. As the Hawks downed the Pelicans 117-100 on Wednesday night, they moved on from their All-Star guard.

On Wednesday, the Hawks dealt Trae Young to the Wizards as he sat on the bench watching his former teammates play. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, a member of the Hawks staff pulled Young off the bench and to the team’s tunnel.

Young eventually returned to the Hawks bench, as they completed their blowout of the Pelicans.

Quick stats: Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher led all scorers with 25 points and eight rebounds. Jalen Johnson finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Luke Kennard and Kristaps Porzingis each scored 13 points off the bench.

Key moment

Hawks forward Mo Gueye started in place of the absent Onyeka Okongwu, who was out with an illness. Gueye had two blocks in the first quarter, finishing the night with 10 points, 10 rebounds and four steals.

Highlight play

Risacher built off his aggressive second-half performance in Toronto. Risacher opened his night going 3-for-3 from 3 before finishing with a career-high seven made triples.

He missed just two of his attempts from deep.

What they said

“I was feeling pretty good, and I think the best part of me feeling good is I was able to help my team in different ways, offensively, but also defensively.” — Risacher on his game Wednesday.

“Just the type of team that we have to be, and who we were tonight, and why we were so effective, and keeping in mind that it’s important for us to continue to carve out and mold into our identity (and) to really hone in on that, and for us to take the next step into being a great team with all the change, with all the noise, first drawing it out, and then to continue to carve in our identity and embrace that and try to be that. Every night.” — Nickeil Alexander-Walker on how the Hawks build off tonight.