The Hawks released their injury report for Tuesday’s matchup against the Bulls. They added guard Trae Young to the injury report, while they upgraded Jalen Johnson from out to questionable.
The team ruled guard Young as questionable with a right shoulder AC sprain after he has been battling shoulder soreness since the team’s game against the Nuggets on Dec. 11.
Young has worn a compression sleeve for the past seven games. He mentioned after the team’s game against the Rockets on Wednesday that Nuggets center Nikola Jokic laid on his shoulder, but he did not feel the impact of it until later.
“But it’s really been hurting just crossing my arm over to the left side, and so I have a lot of tape under my shoulder to keep it intact and make sure that there’s pressure on some of the nerves that are affecting me when I cross my arm over, and it’s kind of stopping it from going all the way over, and it’s helping me to be able to just play free and not think about it,” Young said Wednesday. “So, I know if there’s ways that I can do stuff like that and still be able to not hurt by myself even more‚ I’m gonna do it so that’s that’s what it’s doing.”
Young has put up some of the best play of his career in the team’s most recent stretch with seven consecutive games of 30-plus points and 10-plus assists. In the past 18 games, Young has averaged 30.3 points and 11.7 assists while knocking down 42.8% of his 3-point shots on 10 attempts per game.
Though the potential absence of Young would be a significant blow to the team, they could see the return of Johnson.
The forward has missed the team’s past 13 games with a left distal radius fracture and last week the team cleared him for a return to practice Tuesday. The 22-year-old has given the Hawks stability on both ends of the floor with his ability to make plays, push the ball out in transition and defend multiple positions. He’s bolstered the Hawks’ front court, and in his absence, the team has had to turn to myriad lineups to find the right matchups because of their lack of size.
In 15 games this season, he has averaged 14.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists while tying his career-high of 21 points twice this season. He has made 59.4% of his overall shots, as well as 42.5% of his shots from deep.
The Hawks have already ruled out forward De’Andre Hunter for the next two weeks, so they’ll have to continue to remain flexible as they navigate this recent string of injuries.
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