Earlier this week, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder was asked about center Onyeka Okongwu's injury and said "I don't want to speak out of turn as far as a timeline goes, but he's not going to be available for the foreseeable future." Today, the Hawks provided a big healthy update for the young center:
"Center Onyeka Okongwu (left big toe sprain/sesamoiditis) has been placed in a walking boot. He will be re-evaluated in approximately two weeks and his status will be updated as appropriate."
This is huge news. Okongwu was playing well before he went down with his injury and you could even make the argument that he should be the starting center for the rest of the season. Atlanta got a boost with Clint Capela coming back last night, but he is still on a minutes restriction and has not been as good of a player as Okongwu this season.
Going forward, expect Capela, Bruno Fernando, and Jalen Johnson to handle the center duties. It will likely just be Capela and Fernando once Capela is ready to come off of his minutes restriction.
The Hawks have had a hard time getting healthy this year. There have not been many games where the top eight players of Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Saddiq Bey, Jalen Johnson, Okongwu, Capela, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and De'Andre Hunter have been healthy. Atlanta has plenty of issues, but not having these guys together for more games has hindered this team this season.
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