Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder returns to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center. Utah will be missing some key components heading into the contest.
Lauri Markkanen (quad), Jordan Clarkson (groin), and Kris Dunn (rest) are out, while Taylor Hendricks (toe) is questionable. As for the Hawks, Bogdan Bogdanovic (illness) and Jalen Johnson (ankle) are questionable, and Saddiq Bay (ACL) is out.
This is an important game regarding the fate of Utah’s 2024 first-round pick. The selection will be conveyed to the Oklahoma City Thunder if Utah finishes outside the bottom ten in the regular season standings.
Heading into the Jazz is ninth from the bottom but is only one game removed from the Hawks for the tenth spot. The Houston Rockets are the other team Utah needs to “out tank” to retain this year's pick. The Jazz currently have two more losses than the Rockets.
Despite the similar record, the Hawks have more to play for in the present. If the season were to end today, they would qualify for the play-in tournament as the tenth seed. It would then take two consecutive road wins to qualify for the playoffs
Both teams head into the contest short-handed. Along with the trio of contributions that are on the injury report, the Hawks will also be without leading scorer Trae Young. He’ll be out for at least another week before being re-evaluated for a finger injury.
The oddsmakers have the Hawks pegged as a 2.5 favorite, and the tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 pm MST.
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