Trae Young’s sprained right MCL is progressing well, and the Hawks say he’ll be reevaluated in about two weeks. He even got shots up before Friday’s win over Cleveland — his first real on-court work since the Oct. 29 injury in Brooklyn.
Atlanta has gone 10-5 without him, powered by Jalen Johnson’s breakout run (10 double-doubles, two triple-doubles), Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s scoring bursts, and Zaccharie Risacher stepping up in crunch time. The Hawks just beat the Cavaliers 130-123 behind another Johnson triple-double and a pair of huge late threes.
With Young averaging 17.8 points and 7.8 assists before the injury — and the team winning without its star — the big question becomes:
Once Trae is back, what’s the Hawks’ ceiling? Are we talking top-6 potential? Home-court in the first round? Or something even bigger if this supporting cast keeps elevating?