Hawks List Kingston Flemings Questionable, Rule Out 4 Players vs. Bulls

Kingston Flemings is questionable for the Atlanta Hawks going into Friday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls. The rookie has a lumbar spasm, according to the player health update the team posted Thursday evening.

Keshon Gilbert, Mouhamed Gueye, Asa Newell, and Henri Veesaar have been ruled out. Gilbert is listed with left knee inflammation and a non-surgical procedure. Gueye has a left foot fracture, Newell a left great toe hyperextension, and Veesaar a torn right ACL.

Tip-off at the United Center is 8 p.m. ET.

Atlanta used the eighth pick in June on Flemings, a guard out of Houston. The only game he has missed came Nov. 2 at Indiana, when he served a one-game suspension from the NBA.

Hawks coach Quin Snyder made the switch two nights later in Washington. Flemings started in place of CJ McCollum, who went to the bench, and scored 14 points in a 120-105 win. He kept the spot for the next two games.

Flemings had just made his third straight start when Snyder spoke after the Nov. 7 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

“Seeing different coverages, having a few guys out where guys have started to really come together,” Snyder said. “And the thing about our team is everybody’s got a role, and roles change not just game to game. They can change during the course of a game, and for us to be malleable with one another, it allows us, I think, to play to our strengths, which is some of that versatility.”

The winning streak reached four that night. It ended Monday against the Los Angeles Lakers, who forced 20 turnovers and scored 29 points off them in a 124-114 win at State Farm Arena. Flemings had 4 of those turnovers, and so did Jalen Johnson. McCollum scored 21, more than any other Hawk.

Gueye fractured his left foot in a July 8 workout and has yet to play this season.

Veesaar was also hurt in a workout. The rookie center, taken 52nd overall in June, tore the ACL in his right knee Sept. 15, and the Hawks announced six days later that he is expected to miss the season.

Newell hyperextended the toe during the Nov. 4 game in Washington, and Friday will be the fourth straight game he sits out. The team planned to update his status after a re-evaluation in roughly two weeks, Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

In the same story, Williams reported that Gilbert, a guard on a two-way contract, had a non-surgical procedure on the knee Nov. 5 at the Emory Sports Medicine Complex. He is scheduled to be re-evaluated in approximately six weeks.

Jock Landale is available again. He returned Monday after missing four games with a left hip strain and played 14:11 against Los Angeles.

Caleb Wilson fractured his right hand in Wednesday’s 124-119 home loss while reaching in on Victor Wembanyama.

He will have surgery and is expected to miss four to six weeks, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported.