Trae Young suffered a scary knee injury in Wednesday’s matchup against the Brooklyn Nets, and three days later, there has been no official update from the team on his status. While Brian Sutterer MD, a medical doctor who comments in real-time on sports injuries, gave reason to believe this isn’t a season-ending injury, Young will likely miss extended time.
With Young out, the Atlanta Hawks now face the worst-case scenario that exposes their greatest weakness: a nonexistent point guard rotation. Their decision not to sign a backup point guard was controversial at the time and has now proven to be a mistake that will haunt the team.
Keaton Wallace and Vit Krejci are both listed as point guards, but neither one has proven themselves in this role and in this league. Wallace, the older brother of Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace, is a defense-first player who has struggled on the offensive end this season. Krejci is a true point guard in mentality, but he couldn’t even crack the rotation in their Halloween win against the Indiana Pacers without Young.
The Hawks will have to get creative on offense
While basketball is mostly positionless at this point, the absence of a true point guard requires the team to make up for this playmaking across multiple players.
Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker have been the most impressive perimeter players this season and will shoulder the burden of Young’s former offensive load. Johnson will do a fine job stepping into the lead playmaking role, but he is no Trae Young in this regard. Furthermore, Young benefits from Johnson’s gravity to put defenses between a rock and a hard place. Johnson will not have this luxury without another perimeter star.
Alexander-Walker has historically struggled in a high-usage role, but he has had an incredible offensive start to this season. He’s averaged more field goal attempts per game than even Trae, and while his slow start from three drags down his efficiency, he is genuinely creating open looks for himself and moving the ball as a connective passer.
But that’s the problem; he’s just a connective passer. Where Young can “pass people open” with his incredible basketball IQ and offensive talent, Alexander-Walker merely makes the correct decision on the pass. While this is a nice quality to have in a sixth man two guard, NAW appears to be the starting point guard for the foreseeable future.
This leaves Johnson as the only player who has proven capable of leading the team's offense. How the Hawks will manage this shallow rotation is a mystery.