The Atlanta Hawks entered Wednesday night’s national TV showdown with the Knicks already banged up, with John Collins and De’Andre Hunter both sidelined with injuries, and dealing with internal turmoil after reports of a spat between Trae Young and coach Nate McMillan. A 113-89 loss in New York did nothing to ease concerns about the Hawks, particularly after Dejounte Murray left the game early with a sprained ankle.
On Thursday, Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that Murray is expected to miss two weeks with the injury, meaning the Hawks will be down three starters for the next week-plus at least.
Hawks All-Star Dejounte Murray is expected to miss two weeks with a left ankle sprain, sources tell me and @sam_amick. Atlanta now has Murray, John Collins (ankle) and De'Andre Hunter (hip) sidelined.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 8, 2022
That is obviously not an optimal situation to be in, but particularly for a team where depth is not a strength. They are thin at both power forward and point guard behind their stars, and with Murray gone there aren’t a lot of good options. Bogdan Bogdanovic’s return is helpful in providing some backcourt help alongside Young, but without Murray it means a lot more Aaron Holiday minutes (he had to play 30 in the loss to the Knicks).
At 13-12, the Hawks are still in the middle of the pack when it comes to the East playoff picture, currently tied for fifth with the Pacers and Raptors. How far they will slide during this spell without some key contributors will very likely come down to whether Young can find his All-Star form again after a career-worst start to the season, shooting 40.9 percent from the field and 28.9 percent from three-point range. If there’s a silver lining it’s that the Hawks are entering a rather soft stretch of their schedule, facing the Bulls (twice), Magic (twice), Hornets, and Pistons in their pre-Christmas schedule, with games in Brooklyn and Memphis serving as the most difficult tests upcoming.
