The Atlanta Hawks return from a three-game road trip to host the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, but they’ll do it without all-star guard Trae Young.
Young sprained the MCL in his right knee on Oct. 29 and will be out four-plus weeks. He will be re-evaluated in a month, when the team will have a better idea about how long the reigning NBA assists leader will be out of the lineup.
The Hawks beat the Pacers without Young on Friday, but lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers 117-109 on Sunday. Young’s spot in the starting lineup has been filled by offseason acquisition Nickeil Alexander-Walker. He has scored 21 and 16 points while substituting for Young.
“I think that collectively, we need to be more connected and that will help us,” Atlanta coach Quin Snyder said. “A lot of guys are in new spots, new positions, new roles. They need help with each other and they’re aware of that.”
The Hawks suffered more from the lack of Young’s floor presence than his scoring, even though he scored 20-plus points in three of the first four games. Young already had two double-digit assist games before going down, including 17 in a loss to Chicago.
“With Trae, he attracts so much attention when he’s on the floor,” Atlanta guard Luke Kennard said. “He can create advantages for us just by holding the ball. With his presence out, we just have to continue to play the right way and play together.”
Orlando won’t miss Young. In 24 career games against the Magic, he has averaged 26.7 points and 8.6 assists.
Orlando will be wrapping up a five-game road swing and has won its last two games, including a 125-94 victory over the Washington Wizards on Saturday. It was the first time the Magic had limited an opponent to fewer than 100 points.
“The way the season started, we needed to improve on defense as well,” said Orlando forward Franz Wagner. “But long term, (offense) is where we’ve got the biggest room for improvement.
The back-to-back wins help ease the pain of the team’s previous four-game losing streak, but Magic star Paolo Banchero said it’s too soon to start fretting about wins and losses.
“You didn’t want to start the season as we did, but at the same time, it’s really early so you can’t overreact,” Banchero said. “You can’t start going away from each other and everyone start pointing fingers. It’s too early. And we’ve got guys that have been in the league long enough to know that this is a very long season.”
Banchero averages 23.3 points and has scored 20-plus points in six of Orlando’s seven games. He put up 28 in the win over Washington. In 11 career games against Atlanta, Banchero is averaging 24.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists.
This will be the second of four meetings between the Hawks and Magic this season. Atlanta won the first match 111-107 on Oct. 24 in Orlando. The clubs split last year’s season series two games apiece.
