Hawks' Trae Young sends message ahead of injury absence

The Atlanta Hawks (24-32) ruled out star point guard Trae Young for their home tilt against the Orlando Magic on February 25. Young is dealing with a finger injury suffered in their loss to the Toronto Raptors on February 23.

Young, who was listed as “questionable” on the injury report on February 24, was ruled out some two hours after the report came out.

Five minutes after the initial announcement, Young shared this message to X:

"“I’ve trusted the plan my whole life
No matter how hard or tough it gets..
Why stop now?”"

The post features four images from the Raptors game, notably including one in which Young is holding up the same hand he is said to have injured, though it is unclear exactly when in the game the image is from.

Young, who finished the loss to Toronto with a season-low 11 points, has dealt with various injuries this season, even missing two games while in concussion protocol.

The Hawks are 2-3 without Young in the lineup this season.

After catching fire during a 5-3 stretch for the Hawks, Young has hit a bit of a rough patch. He has failed to score 20 points in four straight games while shooting 30.9% from the floor and 24.2% from beyond the arc. The Hawks have gone 1-3 in that stretch. 

Some fans in the comments immediately began pleading with Young to stay with the Hawks, perhaps reading more than intended into the message. 

He reaffirmed his commitment to the Hawks during All-Star weekend.

He also reaffirmed his desire to win at the highest level. The Hawks are currently 2.0 games back of the Chicago Bulls for ninth place in the Eastern Conference entering play on February 24. 

They do have a 2.5-game lead on the Brooklyn Nets for 10th place and the final spot in the Play-In Tournament with 26 games to go.

Quin Snyder got ejected over Trae Young in Hawks loss

Young had a different injury scare during the loss to Toronto, which resulted in Head Coach Quin Snyder getting ejected. After the game, Snyder admitted that his reaction to a missed illegal screen against Young by Raptors center Jakob Poeltl.

He also said he was unsure why he was tagged with back-to-back technical fouls.

“I saw Trae take a shot to his quad, and I was concerned about his knee, frankly,” Snyder told reporters on February 23. “He was on the ground, and I was worried that he was hurt. 

“I probably deserved the technical, although that was the rationale. I don't know why the second one came as quickly as it did. Typically you get one. There's some level of understanding: my player’s on the ground and could be hurt.”

Instead, it is Young’s pinky that will keep him sidelined against the Magic.