Will Kevin Knox keep his place in the Atlanta Hawks rotation when Bogi returns?

The Atlanta Hawks are riding the back of a four-game win streak that stretches back to their home game against the world champion Milwaukee Bucks. They have ridden on the back of Trae Young’s offense and Onyeka Okongwu’s defense.

However, there is one other piece of the puzzle that has changed for the Hawks which has made a significant difference. Since Kevin Knox has arrived at the club, his presence has been almost a case of addition by subtraction.

By removing Reddish, who was the leading scorer for the Hawks in a number of games this season, the Hawks took away their biggest negative influence on the plus/minus section of the box score. While he was leading the offense, the opposition was usually pulling away from the Hawks on the scoreboard.

The Atlanta Hawks are about to get their string two-guard back

Bogdan Bogdanovic is not far from returning from his troublesome knee injury which has seen him sidelined for the past five games. Fortunately, the Hawks have been able to cover this loss with Knox, Lou Williams, and Delon Wright.

In one of those games, the Hawks were without Danilo Gallinari, and yet the Hawks still won. Part of the reason for this is that Knox has bought into his role and as a result, other players, like Wright are able to be so much more confident in their role.

Now that Bogdanovic is only a game or two from returning, the rotations are going to be changed up again. Kevin Huerter will go back to the bench after a game or two of Bogdanovic being in the lineup. This will cut the available bench minutes at the wing position considerably.

Knox has played more than ten minutes a game over the last three contests and is yet to have a negative influence on a contest. However, his role will be to come on at the end of periods, protecting players from getting fouls that could impact them at the end of the game.

While Knox is rarely going to change the game based on his own offense or defense, he is going to provide the opportunity for others to do so. He will get minutes over Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot who we have seen the last of this season, barring injuries and junk time. Knox will still have a small, but crucial role moving forward.