Hawks fans received a pleasant surprise on Wednesday night. Kingston Flemings - Atlanta's recent top-ten selection - made his first-career start against the Washington Wizards.
Flemings led his team to a much-needed victory and will look to do more of the same on Friday, when they once again take on the team they just defeated. This time, the two division rivals will meet at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
In another past vs. present battle, Flemings will go head to head with Trae Young - one of the greatest, most accomplished Atlanta Hawks of all time. Now among the starting group, the future has arrived, and Flemings has a chance to leave no doubt in his trajectory with another statement performance.
Consecutive wins over Young and the Wizards would be no coincidence
Both trying to compete in the stacked Eastern Conference, Atlanta and Washington will likely be in each other's way the entire season.
Going up two games to none on a talented division foe would be incredible for a team that can use any advantage they can get. They could look back on this early stretch of games as something that helped them gain momentum on the year and finalize their impressive position in the standings.
Even though it's still very early into the season, every win counts. So does every bit of experience a young guard gets.
Young knows it all too well. While Flemings didn't begin his rookie season in the starting lineup like Atlanta's former lead guard, he took over just nine games into the year. Both began their careers with plenty of responsibility.
While Young will forever be cherished in Atlanta, nothing would be sweeter than the new-look squad taking down the face of their previous era twice in a row to begin the year.
Flemings' rookie-year responsibility differs from many of his peers
Selected with the eighth-overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Flemings landed with a team looking to immediately compete.
Often times, top picks don't get an opportunity to see postseason action in their first NBA season. If they do, it's certainly not as a member of the starting lineup at 19 years old.
Even dating back to 2018 - when Atlanta traded for Young on draft night, they knew he would be leading an uncompetitive group. Their belief in him was sky high.
Atlanta's rookie - this time around - plays beyond his years. He's unbelievably calm and mature on the court. He'll have another opportunity to display that Friday.
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