What Accumulating Injuries Mean For the Atlanta Hawks
By Dallin Duffy
Looking at the Atlanta Hawks’ injury report which is piling up of late.
The Atlanta Hawks have not been a very good team this season. They’re 13-37, tied with Cleveland for the worst record in the Eastern Conference.
Despite, they’ve had one thing going for them: health.
Outside of a two-week Kevin Huerter injury and a shoulder impairment holding Jabari Parker out since December, the Hawks have maintained a healthy roster, for the most part. That’s changed of late, and the Hawks’ medical report is filling up quickly.
Alex Len, De’Andre Hunter, DeAndre’ Bembry and Bruno Fernando along with the aforementioned Parker were all unavailable to play in Saturday’s loss in Dallas. In that game, the Hawks lost two more players with Cam Reddish entering the concussion protocol and Trae Young spraining an ankle.
Now most of these are considered day-to-day, with just Len and Parker scheduled to miss more than a week. Trae Young will not even undergo X-Rays or MRI on the injured ankle, meaning he’s more than likely just fine.
However, we’ve seen a few times this season the Hawks play it safe with injuries, which make sense for a team without a whole lot of reason to win.
If all eight have to miss their next game on Monday, the Hawks would be left with a very short-handed roster. Jeff Teague, Brandon Goodwin, Treveon Graham, Charlie Brown Jr, Vince Carter, Kevin Huerter, John Collins and Damian Jones would be the lone eight available players.
If it came to that, Teague, Huerter, Carter, Collins and Jones would likely start, leaving just three (including Charlie Brown, who’s checked in a total of nine times this season) off the bench.
That’s a nightmare scenario, with at least a few of the injured likely returning, but there’s still a chance it comes to that. Evan Turner, who is healthy and traveling with the team, likely would have to rejoin the team in that scenario.
It’s worth monitoring at the very least, and even with some returning to play, they’ll still be less hands on deck than usual. The Hawks play the 33-15 Boston Celtics on Monday.