Trae Young out at least 4 weeks with hand injury

Highlights

• Trae Young will be out for at least 4 weeks due to a left hand injury.
• Dejounte Murray will play a more significant role in Young’s absence.
• Hawks teammates have shown modest increases in performance without Young.

In what’s already been a trying season for the Atlanta Hawks, star point guard Trae Young will be out with a left hand injury for at least the next four weeks.

Per the Hawks:

During Friday’s game vs. Toronto, guard Trae Young suffered a left hand injury. He underwent an MRI yesterday at the Emory Sports Medicine Complex, which revealed a tear of the radial collateral ligament (RCL) in the fifth finger of his left hand.

He will undergo surgery to repair the RCL on Tuesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York and will be re-evaluated in four weeks.

The play in question may have come early in the fourth quarter, as Young attempted to break up a pass in transition. Although Young was on the court for the final buzzer, albeit after multiple substitutions, the way he held his left hand after his whiffed deflection indicates that he at least felt some discomfort.

More to the point, Young’s pinky finger — the fifth finger — is exposed and vulnerable during the play, only making it likely this is indeed the play where Young suffered the injury.

What’s next for the Hawks?

Atlanta will have to rely far more on Dejounte Murray for now, at least

Although a lengthy injury to their marquee player this far into the season isn’t ideal, the Atlanta Hawks are unlikely to throw in the towel. At 24-32, 10th in the East, they’re currently a play-in team. Ultimately, that means they’re in contention for a spot in the NBA Playoffs. At least until they’re not.

If the target date for Trae Young’s return is Mar. 24 (exactly four weeks from the date of the announcement), the Hawks will play at least 14 games before he returns. Seven of those games will be played against opponents currently ranked outside the top-10 in their respective conference standings.

Although the season could unravel for Atlanta, and quickly, there’s reason for the team to be optimistic. With that said, the Hawks may feel fortunate to not have traded his backcourt mate in the offseason.

Dejounte Murray isn’t seen as a strong fit alongside Young. Although he was the league-leader in steals and steals per game in 2021-22, since coming to Atlanta he’s been a shadow of the defender that he became with the San Antonio Spurs.

Consequently, the Hawks backcourt defense left a lot to be desired, despite Young showing more effort on that end in years past. In addition to that, both Young and Murray feel more comfortable in a high-usage on-ball role on offense.

All of which led to calls for Atlanta to first trade Murray, then to trade Young, then to trade one or both.

Yet, the Hawks held pat. For that decision, they may have been rewarded with a smoother road through Young’s recovery. Murray may not be the defender he was with the Spurs, but a large part of that difference may be Murray no longer being the primary point guard.

Though he spends as much time guarding one position as the others these days, the numbers suggest that he’s better at defending lead guards than off-guards.

Murray also appears to be better as the lead guard on offense as well. To that point, he averaged a career-high 9.2 assists per game in 2021-22, and has always appeared to be a bigger threat when tasked with creating shots for himself and others.

He may not be quite as shifty or nifty as Young, but there’s a reason he was named an NBA All-Star in 2022. Yet, he’s even better as a scorer, having mightily improved his jumper.

In fact, Murray has averaged 26.4 points and 8.6 assists per game without Young this season while shooting 42.4 percent from 3. Those numbers may not be completely sustainable over the court of four weeks, but there’s plenty to like about them.

Of course, it won’t all be on Murray. However, aside from Murray and De’Andre Hunter, there have been modest increases in the production of Young’s teammates when he’s not on the court.

Amid a breakout season, Jalen Johnson may see another spike in his usage. However, Johnson has averaged just +0.2 more points per game in the games he plays without Young.

Though this may be surprising given that he averages 15.6 points per game, 77.2 percent of his field goals are assisted, highlighting his reliance on guard play.

Looking down the line, Sixth Man of the Year candidate Bogdan Bogdanovic and former first-round pick Saddiq Bey could get shots to play a larger role. Yet, Bogdanovic and Bey have averaged 17.8 and 16.0 points per game without Young, respectively. While fine numbers in and of themselves, they’re only a bit higher than their season averages.

2-3 without Young this season, Atlanta may have just enough to survive without him, but will they?