When the Hawks traded away Trae Young earlier this month, the door seemed wide open for rising star Jalen Johnson to take the reins of the offense.
Fans had nicknamed Trae Young "the dictator" in the wake of Johnson's breakout – the looks that Johnson would otherwise be receiving were going to the ever-heliocentric Trae.
Unfortunately for the youngster, the reality has been anything but sunshine and rainbows - ever since CJ McCollum (nicknamed "The President" for his role leading the players' union, the NBPA) took the floor for the Hawks four games ago, Johnson's usage has taken a severe hit.
One of the easiest measurements of how much burn a player is getting on offense is USG%, calculated by measuring the total sum of "possessions ended" at the player's hands (be it a made shot, missed shot, or turnover).
Throughout the course of the regular season leading up to the Trae Young deal, Johnson was averaging a solid 27.0 USG%, marking a personal career high, and well higher than last season's 22.5% metric.
Since CJ took the court, Johnson's USG% has taken a severe hit. Over the last four games, this number is sitting at a disappointing 22.4%, practically identical to last year. At the same time, McCollum has been given a complete green light by coach Quin Snyder.
Jalen Johnson's usage decrease is directly linked to McCollum's increase
Having averaged a USG% of 24.4 on the Washington Wizards – a team looking to lose games in order to move up the rankings in the 2026 NBA lottery. The near-unanimous expectation was that the looks would take a slight dip for McCollum as he transitioned to a more competitive team.
Shockingly, McCollum's USG% has spiked to 31.8% since joining the Hawks, a number higher than he's achieved at any point in his lengthy, stellar career.
Having lost 3 of his first four games as a Hawk in the midst of shooting 13% from deep on 5 looks a game, there will no doubt be a return to mean for the trustworthy sniper at some point in the very near future. While fans should not be concerned with this small sample size of poor shooting, they should be very concerned with how much the Hawks have been relying on him.
The good news for Johnson is the duration of McCollum's remaining deal – he hits free agency this summer. In an ideal world, one of two outcomes will occur. First, Coach Snyder is able to figure out a way to ease McCollum out of his high usage. Second, McCollum will get his minutes reduced and/or sit out a number of games in order to allow young talent to develop.
Regardless of the route, Johnson's ceiling is still sky high. Look for Quin Snyder to be patient with acclimating his new tools to the offense, and ultimately prioritize getting his best player as many looks as he can.