Atlanta Hawks HC Nate McMillan gets honest regarding rookie

The Atlanta Hawks have gone all summer league without the services of their 2022 first-round pick, rookie AJ Griffin. While the exhibition series often dictates little about a player’s trajectory, it is beneficial for players to get back into shape and get a feel for their new teammates. Even the ones who aren’t playing have been in attendance showing support.

Hawks head coach Nate McMillan had previously spoken of Griffin, 18, as someone who could complement what Trae Young does very well, perhaps indicating a bigger role than most rookies have under his tutelage.

But that happening grows less likely the more action that Griffin misses.

Per his head coach, though, there might not need to be such alarm over the youngster’s injury despite his history.

Atlanta Hawks “just being cautious” with first-round pick AJ Griffin

McMillan has been insightful in his time joining the broadcast during summer league play. He’s already opened up about the Dejounte Murray trade, saying that he is a key to their playing Young off of the ball more next season, something they have been hinting at since getting eliminated from the postseason.

This time, he offered a little more information on Griffin than we have gotten in previous updates regarding his health.

“He’s going to be fine. AJ came in right after the draft and came to Atlanta and started to work out. So he was working out for about four or five days before he came here. He wanted to get on the floor and work out…[He] was doing fine, came out and the first practice his foot was feeling a little sore and we took him off the floor. We’ve gotten x-rays on his foot and everything looks good. So, we’re just holding him out and just being cautious with him.”

The beginning and end of that quote are by far the most pertinent to the Hawks. Griffin’s medicals are a big part of why he slid.

His defense was another, and lower body injuries do not tend to make for better defenders.

Fortunately for the Hawks, they are being proactive with Griffin. They had to be excited to have him fall to them at 16. It was the second year in a row that a very talented player from Duke fell to the Hawks outside of the lottery after they took Jalen Johnson 20th-overall last year.

Johnson underwent a virtual redshirt season as a rookie seeing just 22 games. But it sounded as though Griffin could get more of an opportunity.

That is looking increasingly unlikely, at least to start the year.

We will have to see if the Hawks try to get him on the floor for their final summer league game. They are still listing him as day-to-day with no official indication that they will shut him down until preseason or the regular season.