Jalen Johnson is listed as questionable with left shoulder inflammation as the Hawks prepare to face the Pistons on Wednesday night in Atlanta.
The Atlanta Hawks listed Jalen Johnson as questionable on the injury report for Wednesday night's game against the Detroit Pistons. Johnson has missed the Hawks' two previous games due to left shoulder inflammation.
Johnson hasn't played since the Hawks' loss to the Houston Rockets last Friday. Atlanta won games played without him, beating the Golden State Warriors and then blowing out the Memphis Grizzlies 146-107 on Monday.
The Hawks didn't need him on Monday. Nickeil Alexander-Walker led the way with 26 points and six assists, including a first-quarter poster dunk on Dejon Jarreau that brought State Farm Arena to its feet. Onyeka Okongwu added 16 points and five rebounds. CJ McCollum finished with 15 points and nine assists, setting the tone early in the lane. Four bench players scored in double figures. Atlanta finished with 37 assists on 49 made field goals and hit 25 three-pointers, tying a franchise record.
The win improved Atlanta's record to 40-32. It's the first time since the shortened 2020-21 season — when the Hawks went to the Eastern Conference Finals — that the team has reached 40 wins before the final 10 games.
"I thought CJ set the tone early," coach Quin Snyder said. "He was just in the lane and had his eyes out, finding people, and then Nickeil had a stretch at the beginning of the third quarter, where just those guys playing that way, it raises everybody's level."
The Hawks currently rank sixth in the East with 10 games left, trying to avoid the play-in. Wednesday starts a brutal three-game stretch in four nights. Atlanta will face the Boston Celtics on Friday before facing the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
The Pistons are 52-19, have won four straight, and are playing without Cade Cunningham, who is out with a collapsed lung. Despite missing Cunningham, they ended the Los Angeles Lakers' nine-game winning streak on Monday night. Daniss Jenkins, converted from a two-way contract last month, dropped 30 in that win and hit the key shots down the stretch.
Johnson's status will be of utmost importance for the Hawks ahead of tip-off on Wednesday's game against the Pistons.