Atlanta Hawks
Atlanta Hawks

Hawks now have nine players out in health and safety protocols

Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey steals the basketball against Atlanta Hawks forward Cam Reddish (left) and forward Wes Iwundu during the second quarter on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. (Yong Kim/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS)

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey steals the basketball against Atlanta Hawks forward Cam Reddish (left) and forward Wes Iwundu during the second quarter on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. (Yong Kim/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS)
By
Updated Dec 25, 2021

Onyeka Okongwu and Wes Iwundu entered health and safety protocols Friday, bringing the Hawks up to nine total players sidelined with COVID-19.

The Hawks had signed Iwundu to a 10-day hardship exception to bolster the roster amid a COVID-19 outbreak for the team, and he appeared in one game, playing 23 minutes in their win vs. the 76ers on Thursday. Okongwu was a key reason the Hawks got that win in Philadelphia, helping to contain Joel Embiid.

Okongwu and Iwundu join Trae Young, Sharife Cooper, Clint Capela, Danilo Gallinari, Kevin Huerter, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Lou Williams in protocols heading into the Christmas Day game in New York. For a player to return from protocols, he must return two negative COVID-19 tests, taken 24 hours apart.

This isn’t how the Hawks were hoping their Christmas Day game would go, as they’ll be incredibly short-handed when facing the Knicks, but it looks like they’ll still have enough bodies to field a team.

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Sarah K. Spencer, a Georgia native and UGA alum, spearheads sports video at the AJC. She also serves as a general assignment writer and previously covered the Hawks from 2019-22.

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