The Hawks have been one of the most injured teams in the NBA this season and that continues heading into tomorrow's matchup with the Phoenix Suns.
Tomorrow night, Wesley Matthews (illness) is questionable while Jalen Johnson (right ankle injury), Saddiq Bey (left knee torn ACL), Kobe Bufkin (left big toe sprain), AJ Griffin (right ankle sprain), Mouhamed Gueye (right UCL sprain), and Trae Young (left fifth finger torn ligament) are all out.
This is a bummer for Johnson, who finally came back to play recently after injuring his ankle in a win over Cleveland. Johnson had returned and was playing well, but he reinjured it towards the end of their blowout loss against the Lakers on Monday.
Johnson has been a star for the Hawks this season but has missed a lot of games with injuries.
If Matthews is not able to go, then Atlanta will really be shorthanded. Matthews started the games that Johnson missed recently and if he can't play, then Garrison Matthews will likely get the start alongside Dejounte Murray, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Vit Krejci, and Clint Capela.
Phoenix is playing tonight vs the 76ers, so be sure to keep an eye on their injury report when it is released tomorrow.
There are only 14 games left in the Atlanta Hawks season and as poorly as this season has gone, the Hawks still have an excellent chance to end up in the play-in tournament. Most of that is due to the bottom of the Eastern Conference being particularly bad, but unless something disastrous happens (which is always possible), Atlanta should be in the No. 10 spot for the NBA Play-In Tournament and facing the Chicago Bulls.
When Atlanta lost back-to-back games vs the Nets in late February and early March, it looked like a real possibility that Brooklyn might catch the Hawks for the last play-in spot. They had just captured the tiebreaker by winning the season series and Atlanta had just lost Trae Young to an injury for the next four weeks. Brooklyn has been terrible for most of the month of March and while the Hawks have floundered in the past few games, including a beatdown at the hands of the Lakers on Monday night. According to ESPN's BPI, Atlanta has a 96% chance to make the play-in tournament and Brooklyn has just a 4% chance to make it.
The Eastern Conference play-in race is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing playoff races in the NBA over the next few weeks.
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